Birth Home in Pleasanton

Jan 2000

I used to be an administrator at the Marin Birth Center (MBC). Based on my experience at the MBC, I originally thought I needed a Certified Nurse Midwife, and my husband wasn't sure about home birth yet, so we opted for the Birth Home in Pleasanton. Beah Haber is their resident midwife, and Jerri Zukowski has privileges there as well. Unfortunately, having a birth center birth necessarily involves interaction with their backup physician, who never looked me in the eye. Also, they as a group concealed information from me about their protocols until my 36th week. I could not imagine having a situation where the doctor ended up attending my birth - how could I allow him to handle my privates when he couldn't even look me in the eye? They seem to have difficulty straddling the fence between home birth and hospital birth. When I became unhappy with everything, Beah even said that she expected it. A self- fulfilling prophecy? They also mislead us about insurance coverage. I interviewed Jerri to transfer to her, but she was too wrapped up in their politics. Thankfully, I found Deborah Counsell and she gracefully stepped in. We had a very long labor, and thanks to Deborah and the decision to home birth, everything was mellow and un-rushed. (Jan 00)