Looking for Info Re: Kaiser West LA Maternity

I also had Kiaser West LA when I gave birth last April. Unfortunetly the new hospital was not quite finished at that point but I hear it's really nice! In my experience everyone in the birthing area was very responsive to my needs and requests. My only complaint is that a midwife delivered my baby instead of a doctor. She was very knowledgable and good ( and to be honest at that point I didn't care I just wanted it out!)I have also heard that the pediatrics departement is very good and have had nothing but good experiences there.

I had the BEST experience there! I no longer have Kaiser, but they treated me so well. When my son had to stay (due to Billiruben), they let me stay even though I was released. They made every accommodation for me. It is a great hospital. Everyone there knew who we were and treated us accordingly.

Everyone went above and beyond the call of duty. Be nice to them and they will put you on a pedestal. My Dr. was Dr. Gordon.

I had to be educed as well and everything went great!

Enjoy.

I deliver my baby girl at Kaiser West LA. The positive aspects about West LA are :
1. it's a brand new building
2. you have a private room for your delivery which is very large (there's a large bathroom shower but no tub)
3. you have a private room after the delivery (it's quite small)
4. I had a wonderful RN and OB/GYN (Dr. Hersch) but that's quite a luck of the draw. The midwife Latoya Barnette was wonderful too.

Down sides:
1. You don't have control over the OB/GYN doctor who'll deliver your baby (but that you know) and since you'll have a doula it might not make such a huge difference.
2. lactation consultant (not so great)
3. a lot of the nurses there push for formula feeding even though I wanted to breastfeed the baby.
HTH

Hi A., I did all my prenatal and delivery at Kaiser West L.A. and it was a very good experience. It certainly did not live up to the negative reputation it has. In August, right before I gave birth, they opened up a whole new maternity wing. The rooms are all single, large and very comfortable (although for some reason there's no couch in the post-delivery room for the dad). I would highly recommend my doctor, Dr. Lawrence Lurvey. They also assign you a midwife but of course it depends who's working when you deliver. I ended up having to be induced but I discussed a natural birth with my doctor and he was fine with it. Also, he assured me that they are in no rush- if you want to wait, they'll wait (within reason of course). Also we just spoke with a friend who works at Kaiser up north and she said that they get the best doctors because they don't have to work on cultivating a practice- it's all about being a doctor. I hope this helps. I too h ad my concerns but in the end was very happy with Kaiser. Also they offer several free prenatal classes.

We have been with Kaiser West LA for pre-natal, birth, and pediatric care for my son, who is now 4 years old. We have been very happy with the care given to me and my son from everyone. With the completion of the new facilities, I have heard that the birthing suites are very nice.

I delivered my first baby - a boy - at Kaiser West LA just 7 months ago. I LOVED my experience there!!! I could not be happier. Of course, this was just my experience, but I thought I'd share. I understand that Kaiser West LA has a brand new maternity wing and it's beautiful. I delivered in the old wing and was still thrilled with my experience. Best of luck and congratulations! Baby boys are awesome!!!!!

Sorry, I don't have info on Kaiser West LA delivery, but thought my input might help anyway. I had my baby last January at St. John's in Santa Monica. I also, fortunately, had a wonderful doula with me.

The OB who delivered Riley was, as luck would have it, the only OB in the practice (of 4) that I hadn't met yet. Go figure. He was only there for the last 5 or 10 minutes though - I spent way more time with the nurses! And at that point any Joe Schmoe off the street could have delivered Riley for all I cared!

When I do this all again, I will probably try to meet some of the nurses and midwives on staff ahead of time if possible. I now have care at Kaiser West LA, and have actually been really impressed with the doctors and nurses I have been in contact with. (I had two really bad cases of mastitis.)

That being said, I am toying with the idea of an "at home" birth or maybe a "birthing center" birth for our next baby. You should check out the movie "The Business of Being Born" if you can in the future - amazing, and very eye-opening to say the least.

Take care and congratulations!

-L.

I had my first child in November of last year 2007 at Kaiser West LA. I was pleasantly surprised with the care especially during and after the delivery. The new delivery wing is wonderful, all new and spacious. The nurses care for you very well, almost too well where they would come in every 1-2 hours to check on us in post-partum. I WOULD TRANSFER!!! The best of luck to you with your delivery and joy after....

I have no experience with WLA, but would like to relate my Sunset experience. I had a great pre-natal experience with my nurse-midwife at Kaiser Sunset, Susan Minich. She was on the same page with me and gave me caring advice and is experienced with the Bradley method. She was the only person at Kaiser who didn't use an ultrasound during the visits, to my relief, yet still did a thourough exam each time. I had a drug-free delivery at Sunset; the intern who delivered her was great. I had a doula with me and was really glad she was there advocating for me. The staff at Sunset seemed fine with having the doula there. At Kaiser, it's all about finding the right doctor (or in this case midwife) and being prepared to tell them how you want your delivery to go. As you know, you can't depend on who will deliver your baby at Kaiser.

I have a beautiful, healthy, 8-month old girl.

Congratulations A.:

I gave birth to 2 children (who are now 4 and 2) both at Kaiser Sunset. I had great results and found that the nurses and doctors were exceptional both times. It was busy, but I felt well cared for. My 1st needed to go into the neonatal instensive care unit for observation for 2 days (I had a fever when I delivered)and the care there for my child was very good.

It is important for you to feel comfortable! I would visit West LA and get as much information as you can before you make a move. Remember mother's know best, so trust your instincts!

Good luck!

E.

I had my son at Kaiser West LA in August 2006. My OB was Dr. Crecilius, whom I loved though she was always jam packed with patients. Dr. Cunningham delivered my son, and although I would have preferred the OB I knew, she was fine and not really as important to the process because it was our WONDERFUL nurse Marianne who did everything but give me the epidural and catch the baby on the way out! My first admitting nurse and midwife were a bit gruff and not terribly attentive, but once Marianne's shift started all was well. The doc who gave me the epidural was great (I wanted drug free too, but I was induced and the medication just made it too painful for me). The only thing I remember being a little bothered by was the lack of privacy and quiet. I was there all day and heard several women coming and going in various stages of labor and degrees of pain. If I had earphones, I would have used them. Just before getting the epidural a woman came in screaming and vomiting. Since I was across from the nurses' station I heard it all (even with the door closed) and became a little more stressed and nervous myself. Overall it was a great experience. I have also heard the new maternity wing is much better and no moving from room to room for labor, delivery, recovery.

Good luck and congratulations!

P.S. One down side...getting discharged took FOREVER...maybe because it was a Sunday, but keep reminding everyone around you you are ready to go home so you can keep them on track.

Congratulations!
I delivered my daughter at Kaiser West LA. Jackie Rice was my registered nurse and she was amazing. I was actually under the care of a doctor, but I RARELY ever saw her. It always bothered me that my doctor was always reminding me that there was a chance she wasn't going to be delivering my baby. I was so lucky that my registered nurse was on call the night I delivered my daughter. If not, the whole thing would've been a disaster :(
So the actual delivery was "magical", maybe it was the drugs???? Anyway. Jackie was so calm and caring and made me feel very relaxed. The room had quiet music playing in the background, the lights were dimmed. It was really peaceful. My delivery went remarkably well.
Now for the bad news...
The nurse who cared for me when I was admitted was awful
:( I could barely understand her and she was quite cold with me. I can't say much for my anesthesiologist either (the first one); It took two tries to get the epidural right and to top it off, they refused to let my husband in the room to comfort me while they delt with their mistake.
Although I adored my registered nurse, because she was basically with me throughout my entire pregnancy, I have since switched to Cedars Sinai.
Good luck with your delivery and new baby :)

Congratulations!! I myself am a birth doula. I had my second daughter at Kaiser Riverside,my first I had a UCLA Santa Monica, and Had a wonderful experience. My dear friend had her baby at Kaiser WLA with great results and is in fact due to have her second there in about three weeks or so. I have also had a few procedures there and have had wonderful care each time. Even all my experiences there as far as appointments, urgent care and even the ER have been very good.
It sounds like you are doing everything you can to assure a successful drug free birth and I am sure your doula will help even further with that.
I hope this helps even a little. Good luck to you and I think you and your team will have a great experience wherever you choose to go.
A.

Kaiser WLA pediatricians are also very good.
Both my kids see doctors there and we've had very positive experiences.
Good luck with your new family!

Hi,

I had both my boys at Kaiser WLA but it's been a while ago, quite a while since my oldest is 19 and my younger one is 9 (1988 and 1998). As a RN, you're probably in a better position than most to judge the service. I was totally upset by my experience in '98 - to the point of writing the head of the Dept (and not that pleased with my previous experience either - a C-section after hours of labor). In 1998 I end up having a drug free labor and delivery, though it was not by choice. The nurses were too busy checking the monitor readings instead of listening to me and checking me. For whatever reason the monitor was not registering the true strength of my contractions. So while I was writhing in pain and in the process of fully dilating, the nurses was looking at the monitor readings and telling me that it was too early to give me anything for the pain. I would simply have to deal with it, after all "that's why they call it labor pain" as one young nurse coldly stated. This continued all the way to the point when I finally convinced them to let me go to the bathroom because I had this tremendous urge to go, when I got to the bathroom I found the baby was already crowning. I went back to my bedside told the nurse, I needed to go to Delivery immediately and took off on feet with IV in tow. I, literally, got on the delivery table, put my feet in the stirrups and pushed the baby out before the nurses got their rubber gloves on.

As you might gather, I'm not a fan of Kaiser WLA Labor and Delivery. The Head of the Dept. apologized and said staff was distracted (not his exact words) that day because a mother lost her baby during delivery that morning. I thank God for a healthy baby and moved on.

I hesitated about writing this because I don't want to alarm or frighten you being that this is your first pregnancy however I believe knowledge is power and that outweighed my hesitation. I didn't know what to expect my first time but I have come to believe the more info, the better. Take what you want; leave the rest.

I wish you the very best and trust that you will have a healthy, happy, beautiful baby boy even through a delivery at Kaiser at WLA.

Best wishes,
Gina of LA

My son Dylan was born at West LA in June 2006 and was delivered by Dr. Kaplan whom I really liked. I had a c-section and he was very informative as to what he was doing at all times, he and the staff made sure I was comfortable and informed. My son had complications and had to be transferred to Sunset NICU and they were able to transfer me as well although it did take awhile to get me over there! My son spent 7 weeks in the NICU and had 2 surgeries. The NICU nurses were wonderful as was our surgeon. They let me stay for 6 days before they discharged me so I could spend as much time in the NICU with my baby as possible. Once discharged I was able to spend all my time in the NICU while he recovered. They have very leiniant hours for parents and understand what a difficult time it is for parents. I could call at any time in the middle of the night if I wanted to see how he was doing. I hope you have a pleasant experience with your birth and congratulations on your first baby!