Testimonial - Confidence and Trust During Delivery

I'm Ricki, I'm from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, originally. I moved down here about six years ago to work at a job for SCSU Aviation as a Senior Secretary and Flight Dispatcher. My daughter is Aspen, she's seven months, very vibrant, healthy, young little girl. Only child.  
 
Why did you chooose Brookings Health System?

I had Aspen here at the Brookings Health System. Having her due in April, I didn't wanna have to face the winter conditions going back and forth to Sioux Falls, both in labor and coming back, returning from the hospital. It was important to me, with work being pretty busy, to have appointments that were close, so I didn't have to take a lot of time off to go back and forth. And it was important to me to have my OB that I sought care with actually be there for delivery, which, to my understanding, wasn't an option in Sioux Falls if I chose to deliver there, so... 
 
How was your pregnancy?

Pregnancy was perfectly healthy and normal up until 39 weeks. I went in for my appointment and my OB checked me, and we figured out that the baby was a breech presentation at that time with an ultrasound. Things hadn't progressed as they should have, and an ultrasound confirmed that she was breech. Larissa, my OB, had a fantastic plan already set in forth when she figured that out. She figured out that we were gonna do an ECV, which stands for external cephalic version. She was very confident in that, that would be successful and she, kind of, presented it to me as an option that she highly suggested. And I said, "I'm here to trust you, we're gonna go with whatever you think is right."  
 
So, we were scheduled for that the next morning because it was, kind of, an emergent thing, get the baby flipped. Came in the next morning, it was a successful aversion, thanks to Larissa. Came back at 40 weeks for a checkup, hoping things had descended, and things had happened properly like they were supposed to, and the baby had flipped back. So, Larissa decided at that point that we were gonna try another ECV, and then induce right away after, and both of those were successful. 
 
How can the ECV help position the baby?

ECV is a procedure which they give you an epidural for, and then, they kinda lay you flat. You know, the OB gets, kind of, on top of you, both hands grabs the baby and slowly turns the baby, it's a lot of monitoring. OR is scheduled in case things happen to go wrong or something like that, but the goal is to flip the baby so it's in the right position. Head down, in hopes that the baby stays there. 
 
How was your relationship with Dr. Bennis?

Larissa Bennis and her team took really good care of me, from day one, she was confident. I went in with the speech that, "Hey, I'm here to trust you. This is what I pay you for, you're the expert in this care. I just want you to know I'm not gonna second-guess any of your decisions, I expect you to make the right decision for me." She was 100% confident with that, and we built a really good relationship off the get-go. 
 
What was your birth plan?

When me and Larissa did our first meeting together, I explained to her I wanted a vaginal delivery, that was really important to me. It's important for the baby, I think, it's the best way for the baby, naturally. Recovery time, of course, is always the first thing on a mom's mind. Nobody wants to kinda go through a c-section if they don't have to, and recover from that.  
 
How was your postpartum recovery?

Recovery was fantastic. The nurses gave me some great advice, "Don't overdo it, get a lot of rest, you know, drink a lot of water, do some stretches here and there as you can. Don't just sit in bed and kinda wait for things to get better, move around a little." I really took that advice to heart and did try to do everything they suggested. And to give you an idea, at three weeks, I participated in a friend's wedding, so, three weeks postpartum. So by six weeks, I was pretty much feeling back to normal, and I felt really good. 
 
What did you appreciate most about Brookings Health System?

The most important thing for me, the care at Brookings Health System, and with Larissa Bennis, I was 100% confident. I think when you're a first-time mom and you're going in with all these unknowns, and all these questions about the symptoms, the care, what should I do with this? What should my birth plan entail, you know, what should my delivery be like? You don't even know what a contraction feels like until it starts happening, or in my case, someone had to tell you, you were having them.  
 
To have that confident team like that, that's just 100% confident, you know you can rely on them. It kinda takes the question out of that stuff, which is a really fantastic aspect about Brookings Health System, and my OB in particular, Larissa Bennis. 
 
Would you recommend Brookings Health System?

It's close, it's good care. It's confident care, which I think is a great thing, and more importantly, you build that relationship with your OB, and she's there for you at the end. She's there for you at 40 weeks to make those decisions, and she's in there in labor and delivery, reiterating the past nine months of your care with her. That was really important to me, so I would absolutely recommend them. And the compassionate nurses up at Brookings Health System when I was delivering, you know, are as good as you're gonna get anywhere else, so, or better.