I want to start by saying I do not normally write Yelp reviews. I am not the type of person to jump at the first chance to negatively critique a business and tend to always give people the benefit of the doubt knowing how damaging negative reviews can be to a business. I was so incredibly offput by my experience with this birth center and blatantly ripped off financially, that I felt compelled to share my experience. Because I am a first time poster, this will likely not get posted in the main review section or factored into the rating of this business which is unfortunate, but hoping it will have some visibility for those doing their research.
I went to Rachel at the beginning of my 3rd trimester, desiring a natural home birth. Throughout the course of my limited interactions with her and the center, the only care anyone actually provided to me in those ten weeks, were the following:
urine strips and hormone testing
fetal heart rate monitoring
blood pressure testing
Because I had insurance and was actively being seen at Kaiser, the NST's, ultrasounds, blood work, etc was all done through them. She did not offer to take that on given the costs she would incur, and because I was still covered elsewhere. A few weeks into my relationship with the center, I started to have high blood pressure. I chalked this up to the white coat syndrome I often experience and she was ok with that explanation. However, after multiple in-home visits, my BP was still high and it was clear that I was at risk of having sustained high BP that would prevent the possibility of a home birth entirely. AT THIS POINT, there is NO reason why I should not have been advised out of midwifery care and to plan for a hospital delivery. Conveniently this recommendation didn't happen because the second installment of the $6K was due right around this time. They took the money knowing it was very unlikely that she would actually have to deliver my child.
Fast forward to a week before my due date and my water started leaking. I came in 24 hours later to the center for a membrane sweep which did not work and did not result in any dilation. The next day, Rachel told me I could no longer go through the midwifery experience or attempt a home birth under care and that I would need to seek a hospital.
For anyone that is considering a home birth especially as a first time mom, I strongly recommend you re-consider. There are COUNTLESS things that can go wrong at the last minute - from BP, to a poor baby position, to water breaking and labor not progressing within 24 hours, to the need for magnesium or any sort of IV drip, to mecaonium in the fluid, nuchal cord wraps, hip labor that causes pain beyond comprehension (which I also had) that will prevent you from being able to deliver at home. Additionally, first time births are often lengthy, excruciating and stressful and many end up in a hospital transfer. Despite knowing all these risks, the midwifes collect the hefty financial investment in FULL far before you would know if any of these nuanced situations will apply to you. They make money on patients who never actually deliver with them. I understand this may not be unique to Simi Valley Birth center but it is a fundamental flaw in the business model and it needs to be addressed. DO NOT invest in this unless you are 100% ok losing $5-$7K of your own money as it is likely what will happen.
Birth is totally unpredictable and its difficult to predict what will happen in each person's unique situation, I totally understand that. The issue is that they charge a massive amount for their services and require half of payment by week 27-30 and payment in FULL By week 38. I paid a whopping $6 thousand dollars BEFORE any actual work was done by anyone and BEFORE I even went into labor. As I said before, the only things anyone at this center did was to check my urine, my baby's heart rate and my blood pressure. That alone cost me $6K. they did nothing else and I in turn, gave birth at a hospital where I incurred more costs.
Given I transferred into Rachel's care at 27 weeks and such limited "work" was done on their end, I kindly requested some sort of reimbursement, some reprieve from the financial burden given how expensive of a sunk cost this was for absolutely nothing in return. To which the request was met with a cold flat out 'NO' and a lengthy legal-esque response that sounded like a lawyer wrote it.
Please reconsider if you are thinking of going this route. There are doctors out there who will listen to your desired birth plans and have a willingness to not force c-sections, induce too early, etc. whi read more