I choose Dr. Ayalon because he had a lot of good reviews. I went in to meet him and there was not a long wait and he was very personable. From the start, I told him that I wanted my pregnancy to be as natural as possible throughout the whole thing. He was on board with it. Throughout my pregnancy there was never much of a wait and everyone was friendly.
I had a smooth pregnancy and this was my second. My first was 2 1/2 years prior and with a different doctor, who I liked a lot, but I had moved. Everything was fine until the 3rd trimester. First it started out that I had some strange symptom and when I asked him about it, he googled it. Uh... ? Google?
Later, as I was considering some other things, and asking various questions to get his opinion, he told me that I am reading too much and that it'll just make me crazy. I didn't appreciate that and felt like he just wanted someone who will blindly follow whatever they are told and not think for themselves. My previous doctor appreciated my questions.
What really got me was in the last month. He asked me several times if I wanted to induce. When I told him I didn't, over and over, I then had to explain myself as to why - which was that everything was good and healthy and I wanted to let my baby come when he was ready. Major complications, fine, but there weren't any. After the 3rd week of being asked if I wanted to induce and refusing, he told me not to have the baby that weekend because he was going out of town. OK, now I know why he wanted to induce. Still - not interested.
So we get to due date week. My first was 8 days late, by the way, no issues. This one was only 1 day late and he wanted me to do a stress test at the hospital. I had borderline high blood pressure and NO other symptoms and he's telling me that I have a good chance of getting pre-eclampsia and I should induce. When I still didn't want to, because I trusted my body and had no other symptoms, he basically told me that if I go home, that it would be against his medical opinion and my insurance may not pay for it. I asked him to prescribe strict bed rest at home, if he was worried, but he wouldn't do that. I went home anyway.
My baby was born the next night, naturally, with 0 complication to me or him. He was out in 2 hours from start to finish. But the stress the doc put me through, pressuring me to induce when I didn't want to, and scaring me into thinking I may get something that I didn't have, is something that I REALLY didn't appreciate. He said that no, I don't actually have pre eclampsia, but that I could get it. It was really NOT COOL for me. He even told me that I should listen to him because he is the best and that's why I was there. Very cocky. That's not why I was going to him. I had limited options in doctors and he got the best reviews. I thought he would honor my natural wishes, but in fact that changed, and right in the end, when finding someone new would be difficult. He even told me, while I was doing the stress test that I could go find another doctor if I wanted. Right... as I'm due. Sure I can.
If I was up for inducing, or just blindly following his advice without any of my own reading or questions, I'm sure my experience would have been much better. Thank goodness there weren't any complications and that I listened to my heart. I also called a doula friend and my first doctor and they both encouraged me to trust myself. Thank goodness also that this wasn't my first child. I would have been scared to death by this experience. As it was, I felt bullied. read more