Lonestar midwives was recommended to me; even though it was late in the pregnancy and the pregnancy was considered higher risk due to age and genetic factors, they took me in, listened compassionately to my wishes and concerns, did NOT charge me ahead of time for my labor, and helped me to vaginally deliver a beautiful baby girl (I ended up with the epidural but at no time did I ever feel that I was being pushed to get one).
She was relatively likeable but often seemed hurried. But by month seven I was pretty infuriated by the wait times, and I don't think she apologized once for being late, even though I was missing work to be at my appointments
Dr Askew is the most amazing obgyn I have had. Her bedside manners are superb. She delivers patient centered care and was very upfront about what to expect during my pregnancy. She also was very accommodating when I wanted a specific change to my delivery plan. As with every doctor, there is a bit of wait time but not as bad as I've seen with some other doctors. The nurses gave me a heads up when she was running behind and were all around amazing during pregnancy and after birth. The front desk ladies were always friendly when I checked in and out and also with paperwork for my employer. I saw the nurse practitioner a few times during pregnancy and she is also awesome!
Then they made me pay ahead of time for my copay for delivery and labor. That seemed weird to me but I went along with it.
If I wasn't already more than 5 months into my pregnancy I would be going to any other place BUT here! Expect to spend 1 to 2 hours waiting past your appointment time only to see the doctor for about 5 or 10 minutes. You can call and ask if they are running behind and they will all tell you no, but as soon as you arrive they inform you of the hour or longer delay. You would think that they'd do their best to stick to a schedule or at least inform us of the delay early on (since the majority of the ladies around me are also very pregnant and probably just as uncomfortable as myself) and allow us to reschedule or come back in an hour. Your only choice is to wait the whole time or set a new appointment whenever they can fit you in again. This is my first pregnancy and I had been seeing Dr. Ramos-Gonzalez way before my pregnancy which is why I stayed with her, but you can guarantee that I'll be seeing someone else my next pregnancy. Oh and yes, I am writing this while I wait for my appointment. (My appt was at 1:55, I was just taken back at 2:17 and was informed it would probably be another hour wait... mind you I asked at check in if everything was on time and they said yes)
I love my Dr there. She is thorough, kind, listens, and I feel like a patient not a number. However, wait times are long. Sometimes I'm there an hour and a half past my appointment time before I am seen.
There are a couple of things that just about ruined my experience. 1st the staff are not friendly or inviting and when your going in with excitement and fears about your pregnancy this can be sueded to go any direction really. 2nd the room I was placed in was not cleaned and the paper on the bed you can tell had been previously used, when trying to find a nurse to advise of this at 3 nurses walk passed me without making eye contact. 3rd when going over my medical history the nurse made faces and would raise her eyebrows as if she had something to say and after informing that I had an allergy to latex she proceeded to lay out 2 latex gloves. Luckily the day was made right when Dr. Troy had come through the door with a friendly attitude and addressed my concerns and had even had the office manager call me and provide some peace of mind that they have a high standard for the facility and apologized for the overall experience I had that day. I rated this place a 3 star right now giving hope that "hey everyone is entitled to a bad day" but hopefully my next visit will be warm and more inviting and that they understand that their demeanor will effect everyone and since this is a place for pregnant woman with hormones that are escalating they can take this and apply it to each day.
I don't think ifwh is an evil place or anything, but I definitely think they value quantity over quality and view childbirth more as a medical procedure than an act of nature. I think childbirth can BECOME a medical procedure if things go wrong, but should not be treated as one from the get-go, but I know there are those who don't share that opinion. But even for those people, I wouldn't recommend ifwh just because of the wait times and financial issues.
At that point, I realized that I did not trust this woman nor this facility to honor my wishes nor to make the best decision for me and my baby, and I did not want to go into labor with people I did not trust.
Editing for an update on how visits were after the fact. At 6 months pregnant I continued to encounter the same problems going forward. Dirty exam bed, rude or just unfriendly staff and just not a place I enjoyed to go at all. On 3 occasions I was put into a room where it was completely noticeable the exam bed had not been clean, and each time I complained I was given a look like I was asking for too much. Considering that I mentioned I had spoken to the office manager and was assured the staff was informed of the matter still it was an ongoing issue. For sanitary reasons I decided to move to find another Dr. from another office. Again the Dr. was never my issue but the issues that I encountered were enough to make me never return. So at this time I have changed my rating from 3 to a 1 because I was so dissatisfied and disappointed that such a large name as this institute could not function seamlessly with staff happy to do their job (or at least fake it to make it). Maybe that is the issue is that there are just so many moving parts that they have left room for so many errors.
The last straw for me was when I presented my birth plan (which I carefully crafted from my birth classes), and my doc seemed super impatient with it. I brought up a few items that I knew might be controversial, which were shot down without discussion, but when I said I wanted to try to go with a natural birth, she seemed irritated....she said that was fine as long as there was no screaming on her Ward (or something to that effect).
This review is a bit overdue, since I gave birth last year, but I know how important choosing the right provider is and wish I had done my homework a little better before I chose IFWH. I ended up switching to Lone Star Midwives in almost my last month of pregnancy and I so wish I had done that way earlier or from the beginning.
Also, I found out from my birthing instructor that the hospital I'd be delivering at had a higher C-section rate than any other hospital in the city.
I was consistently frustrated with the long wait times. It was not unusual to be waiting for several hours for my appointment. But I thought that maybe that just meant my doc was in high demand.
Update:. IFWH is apparently doing an overhaul on their processes and it shows. My financial issue was handled promptly and with no fuss by Westyn, money refunded with no runaround and a positive attitude. I've added a star to reflect the good ending to a not-so-good story. Thank you!
The care at ifwh was... okay. I was never terribly impressed with the staff, but I thought my doc was alright so I stayed with ifwh for quite a while.
I've been slacking on getting the finances taken care of, but I still have yet to get back the 400 some dollars I paid for labor with ifwh. hopefully I still can....but even if I couldn't, I'm still really glad I left when I did.
Institute For Women S Health Hardy Oak Pavilion is a US Health facility based in San Antonio, Texas. Institute For Women S Health Hardy Oak Pavilion is located at 18707 Hardy Oak Blvd. 230, San Antonio, TX 78258, USA.
Please contact with Institute For Women S Health Hardy Oak Pavilion using information above: Address, Phone number, Fax, Postal code, Website address, E-mail, Facebook. Find Institute For Women S Health Hardy Oak Pavilion opening hours and driving directions or map. Find real customer reviews and ratings or write your own review.
Find Health facility in San Antonio