Northwell Health Midwifery at Harrison — Local services in Town/Village of Harrison

I wish I never stepped foot into this practice. I chose them for my pregnancy care and it was a terrible decision. My first annual visit was so pleasant I was excited to receive care here but once I became pregnant the problems started to arise.

I did not receive a pregnancy packet of information for a healthy pregnancy or the REQUIRED discussion with their nurse until my 20 week appointment.

I was asked if my morning sickness continuing into 20 weeks was a "me problem"

I did not receive information meant to be distributed at 28 weeks, until 32 weeks

Their website was 10 years outdated and had incorrect information about birth practices at Phelps hospital, when I found this out I tried to contact them to get answers and was pacified being told they would "get to the bottom of this and make sure to get you answers" instead I was scheduled with a new midwife who when I asked about this, I was told she had no idea and didn't know any of the hospital practices. It then took additional weeks for them to not correct their website, but completely remove it.

When I continued to bring up my concerns over lack of information on hospital policy I was told I should look into home birth options (it was too late in my pregnancy to find a home birth midwife who was accepting new clients with my due date).

I never ended up meeting all the midwives before my delivery

I went to the hospital for prodromal labour and was told I should stay since "they were going to induce me tomorrow anyway" but I was never informed of this previously. I opted to leave and was informed by a nurse I needed to sign an AMA that I was choosing to leave. I asked the midwife on call if this was true and she said she did not know the hospital policy.

I was constantly being hounded to schedule an induction despite multiple refusals and a MFM doctor telling me my placenta looked healthy and he had no concerns about me waiting until 41+4 to induce.

When I did go into labour (not induced) I was terrified to find out that the midwife who I felt completely uncomfortable with due to multiple negative appointments was on call. I told myself I just had to wait 12 hours and a new midwife would be on- nope! Kathy Herron was on call for 24 hours and made my labour so uncomfortable. She was rude, hostile and honestly traumatizing. She laughed at me while I tried to work through labour pain and was having a difficult time. She continually asked me to break my waters which I constantly refused then they "just broke in her hands". I fully believe she broke my water without my consent even though I made it clear that was NOT what I wanted. When it was time to push, I told her I needed a moment to prepare myself mentally and she said "most women would be happy right now". She wanted me to give birth how she wanted and when she wanted.

I wish I could give my experience 0 stars and am genuinely afraid for other women to have this...

This review is way overdue. Just getting to it now because I can now write about it without getting all worked up. I will try to provide the short version... My first daughter was born at Greenwich Hospital but this time I wanted to give birth naturally even though my husband wanted to go back to GH. I had a false alarm about 10 days before my DD and ended up going to Phelps Hospital after midnight and the midwife (who I will not name... .) on call met me there. After being there for hours I left the next morning with no baby... Fast forward to a week later: I had had an appointment the previous day with the perinatologist (I was considered high risk because of advance maternal age: early 40's) and he told me any day at any time you're going to go into labor, I was already 3 centimeters dilated so just go home, take it easy and call them (the midwives) when you start having contractions. Also that morning (Sat) I had my appointment with the acupuncturist (Jaesun Yoo who is AMAZING btw) and I had gotten points to bring on the labor (YES they work!). So when I started getting contractions at around 8-9pm I didn't hesitate to call them because I knew it was coming for sure this time. I called and it was the same midwife that was on call that night. And this is when it all goes down hill... I tell her how often they are coming, how intense they are, that I went to the bathroom and something bloody came out (mucus plug?) and that I had seen the acupuncturist that morning and I had gotten points, etc. You would think she would say "leave now, I will meet you at Phelps" No. She actually told me to "hang in there, go back to bed, lay down, drink some water and if anything it's early labor and that I might as well labor at home as long as possible because - GET THIS: the unit at the hospital is full anyway so I may not even be able to get a room and I might as well just wait in the comfort of my home". I didn't even know what to say, I was shocked so I said OK. I laid down and as I am getting more contractions my gut told me just go to GH, now. I told my husband let's go and I didn't have to ask him twice. When I got I was 7 centimeters. My advice for those ladies that want to try natural you can and still go to another hospital that is not Phelps. Which was my main reason for wanting to stick with Phelps even though DH was not thrilled about it. Believe it or not at GH they will not coerce you into having an epidural, they even have a birthing ball and they were all so helpful and telling me "Yes you can do it, you go this". I love those nurses. They were amazing. In the end all it matters is that I came home with a healthy baby girl. And for that I am...

This is long review , but please take time to read. My husband and I found midwifery at Harrison through some research, they were one of two midwiferies associated with Phelps Birthing Center and we were very interested in delivering our son there. Our first appointments were very positive,the midwives were friendly, knowledgeable and nurturing..that is until we met Kathy Herron. Mrs. Herron was stand-off ish , uninterested ,almost cold towards us. We figured as our journey continued and we met with her more things would change. They didn’t, in fact she became hostile, almost mean and pushy about medications and interventions that we didn’t feel comfortable with. During one of our appointments she became so upset about us refusing the Rho-GAM shot (my husband and I are both A-) that she suggested that my husband may not be the father of our child. I prayed she wasn’t on call the night I went into labor. She was. When we arrived at Phelps Hospital, she didn’t even greet us. She was on the computer and didn’t even look up at us. The nurses there set us up in the room and we didn’t meet with Mrs. Herron for maybe another hour. The first thing she told me when she came in the room was to pull up my mask while I was in the middle of a contraction, and informed us that she was having a very busy day as I would be her third birth that day. Her disinterested attitude trickled down to the nurses on shift. My husband and i felt so unsupported that he asked me if I wanted him to take me to another hospital.

At around 10pm there was a change of shift in nurses and thank God a nurse by the name of Dawn started to take care of us. She is an absolute angel and I often think of her because she was so loving and supportive..she was everything we were looking for at Harrison midwifery. She gave my husband tips on how to support me, she massaged me and encouraged throughout the night. Only when confirmed by nurse Dawn did Mrs. Herron come in the room and delivered our son. After the delivery of our son, my husband and I told Mrs. Herron that we would like to think about whether we would be giving our son the vitamin K shot and Hep B vaccine, and she became furious. She stormed out of the room and had the Doctor in charge at the hospital come to our room and threaten us with calling CPS if we didn’t give our son these shots immediately. This happened only minutes after giving birth to our son!

This was two years ago and I am now pregnant with our second child. I wish I could go back to midwifery at Harrison because all the other midwives there were so kind, so nurturing and so supportive. But I wouldn’t take the chance of having her deliver my second baby.. I don’t think...