Birth & Womens Center

Sitting here in the wee hours of the morning, holding my squirmy, squishy, squeaky little man, I’m finally mentally and physically recovered enough to write a coherent sentence. (Ha! See! Right there, I did it!!!)
I haven’t been sure exactly how I wanted to approach the actual «I had a baby» story for Unilocal.I could go from the «These are the dirty details of birth» angle, or the «Here’s a lovely picture of an experience I had» approach, leaving out the blood, sweat and tears. Or I could just spell out the mechanics from X O’Clock to Z O’Clock this is what happened. Normally when I sit down to the keys, it’s already written in my head. But this one is so personal it has me stumped, still.
The best I can do is to say that Cherie has the most capable hands any woman could hope to be in during childbirth. She’s a sage, a mother, a guide, a teacher, a coach. She’ll kick your butt if you need it, encourage you at the perfect moment, uplift your spirits, then get you to do the hard work necessary to bring your baby into the world. She really works miracles.
What I really want to share with other moms who are looking for a natural birth is this: Your body was created perfectly to do this. And my experience with Cherie delivering my son was that she knows the exact mechanics of birth, knows exactly how to help you have your baby safely and timely. Everything about a hospital birth, strapped to monitors and laying on your back is the exact opposite of what labor is like here — You get to move, you get to walk, you get to take a bath, you get to do the actual work to help your baby move into position to be born. We were never meant to be passive attendants in giving birth as has become the custom — we were meant to harness it, control it, and enact it. And I didn’t realize that fully until I was here, experiencing it.
And the moment your baby is actually born — every second of your natural labor was beyond worth it, and the gratitude for the help, teaching and support you’ve just experienced is overwhelming. We stayed and lulled around for about 4 hours after my son was born. My husband popped a bottle of champagne, my mom brought us all a meal, my daughter put on jammies and fell asleep on the couch. Music played, the lights were dimmed, the baby and I took an herb bath to relax. Then we went home and spent the night in our own bed.
It could not have been more perfect. And I could not have felt more powerful and capable after coming through that.
And to the Daddies — Cherie, and these midwives, will help you be the most supporting and helpful you possibly could be through the entire experience. My husband was perfection, and Cherie walked him through how to help me the whole way.
We came back 10 days after to put his footprints on the wall and for the circ, which Cherie also performed and which healed in just days.
If anyone would like specific details, please PM me and I’m happy to exchange numbers for a more personal and detailed account!

I gave birth to my son here in December of 2013, and I could have not asked for a better experience. I am a doctor and I did NOT like the idea of my delivery being treated as a medical condition that could only be managed in a sterile, hospital setting. The midwives and birth assistants were absolutely amazing and they even did an in home visit after my son was born to ensure our well being. If I ever decide to have another child, there is no other place I would choose to deliver my baby. I was able to go home with my son 6 hours after his birth, which I though was amazing! No drugs were needed! Just a team of fabulously caring and experienced midwives and birth assistants! I highly recommend!

My daughter had her first child at the Birth and Women’s Center. I have had a home birth, 2 birth center experiences and my final child at a hospital. I was extremely impressed with the professional, compassionate care given my daughter. Thank you from the bottom of this Grandmother’s heart!

My husband and I cannot say enough how much we love our experience at Birth and Women’s Center. It is really difficult for me to believe negative reviews that come in because of the wonderful care that the staff gave us and the very healthy experience we had throughout the prenatal and postpartum phases.
All of the midwives, our birth assistant, and the staff are genuine and kind. After confirming my pregnancy at my Ob/​Gyn (after a 2 hour wait in the waiting room), I arrived at my first appointment at BWC with a warm welcome and lots of congratulations from the staff.
I encountered a few odd symptoms early in my second trimester that required me to see a cardiologist and an endocrinologist. Thanks to the very careful attention to detail by Rachael and Cherie, we were able to quickly diagnose and treat my newly discovered Grave’s Disease. Every prenatal visit required a thorough discussion of health and wellness; any potential warning signs prompted a visit with a specialist or consultation with Dr. Graham. The midwives are well trained and very medically-​minded, which was something I didn’t realize I appreciated until it really mattered. I wasn’t sure if I would be judged for being a plus-​size momma-​to-​be; the midwives were never rude or judgmental. They simply encouraged me to stay healthy with good nutrition and staying active, and left it at that.
The proximity to Baylor Hospital Dallas was a comfort to my husband and my family members; he was nervous about having our first baby somewhere other than hospital, so the fact that BWC is right next door to Baylor gave him a lot of peace. Also, the advice to take the Bradley birth course was so helpful! (Future BWC clients — take a Bradley course! It will make all the difference!)
Our son, Calvin, decided to make his appearance on the last VERY snowy evening of March (March 4 – 5). We showed up at BWC at about 11:30pm in the middle of the heaviest down pour of snow. Cherie was already there with peaceful music going and the house nice and warm. I walked and squatted and walked and squatted through the night until our son made his appearance at 4:02am. I experienced shoulder dystocia with my 8lb 12oz bundle of joy; Cherie’s quick response and expertise allowed me to deliver him without any major intervention or emergency.
It is three months later and I still call the entire experience magical! Though we plan to wait a few years for the next baby, we are eagerly looking forward to working with BWC again. We think of them as family and are very proud to have Calvin’s «mark» on the wall above the door frame to the office upstairs.
The Sartain family loves you, BWC!

I had reservations about using the center, but in the end it was the perfect place to have our second child. We delivered with midwives out of state with our first, and had a textbook first delivery. This time I wanted somewhere close (no time to drive!) with less interference than a hospital. I was so happy to have Rachael be my delivering midwife, she «got» what I wanted and was very flexible and amiable for the whole birth.
We ended up only at the center for the last twenty minutes of labor, with a outside doula, which was perfect. The only reason I don’t give five stars is because I have caught glimpses of certain aspects of the practice that are not necessarily progressive in their approach to natural childbirth, which could be difficult for a first time mom looking for guidance. But as a second time mom looking for an alternative to home birth, it turned out amazingly well. Thank you, Rachael!!!

24 years ago I gave birth to my daughter Sophie at home with Cheri at my side, expertly guiding my every minute. It was AMAZING!!! 3 yrs later she was right back at my house delivering my son, a last minute bathtub birth, which again was flawless and AMAZING! I had the good fortune to video my son’s birth, and to my utter ??? I don’t know what, realized that BOTH my children were born, ON THEIR DUE DATES, at 1:35 pm TO THE MINUTE!
Even Cheri questioned it, but the call time on the Vid & her charts from Sophie’s birth confirmed it!
Long story short, Cheri is THE BEST, &
Happy 24^th to my Sophie!!! 4÷9÷91
Love you Cheri!!!
Kristen Molinari

Could not have had a better experience here. Adrienne was our midwife who delivered our baby girl, and I saw Rachael for nearly all my appointments – both are just lovely people and I always felt comfortable asking them anything. Cheri was also very instrumental on the day of my delivery (she’s semi-​retired, I think? so she doesn’t usually do the actual deliveries/​tend clinic, I don’t believe, but perhaps does first appointments and helps out during the day – I could be wrong here, but this was my impression). She had very helpful suggestions and hey, she knows what she’s doing. At her suggestion, I found myself doing exercises from class I had brushed off as not being for me – when in fact they ended up doing wonders getting me though labor.
I knew for sure after we took the tour – just seeing the house and the atmosphere and also hearing their approach to natural childbirth – that this would be the place for me. There were occasional hiccups on the admin side, but they were usually switching systems or their internet was down – understandable things. I never had any pause with the treatment I received from the midwives. I also never waited longer than 15 minutes – but I would still always be on time/​early!
This may not be the choice for everyone, but it was for us, and I could not recommend them enough. I especially loved Adrienne and found it so reassuring that she was pretty much always on the same page I was and I never had to explain myself too much. She was (they all are) very patient and very encouraging – they really do a great job of getting you through this! Without Adrienne’s direction and some helpful tricks for head positioning/​fixing, my labor might have been more difficult or problematic, but she absolutely saved me from those pitfalls and that no doubt also made my recovery so much better.
Everyone else is just wonderful too. After delivery, Debbie the birthing assistant was taking care of things before I ever even knew I needed things. She was positively an angel – I didn’t even have time to worry about modesty (not that you are, at that point), she was just there making everything better. They help you clean up and recover *without* feeling rushed. I had my beautiful girl on a fairly busy day for them but didn’t even really know it until after. We moved up to the upstairs after to recover and they had a bunch of menus for nearby foodie spots for us to grab food for dinner – suddenly food sounded wonderful! ;)
We had our girl around 8pm and we left by about 2am for home. Waking up in our own bed was great and all our follow-​up appointments have been great. Both midwives have been just perfect about fielding phone calls about worries or health issues that came up after – they really do a great job of taking care of you after, too, not just before, and I never felt like I couldn’t call with concerns.
Not enough praise in the world for Adrienne and the peace of mind I had coming here!

DO NOT SUBJECT YOURSELF OR YOUR BABY TO THE IRRESPONSIBLE AND UNPROFESSIONAL STAFF HERE.
I was a BWC client who brought my daughter back here after 16 years to start her women’s health odyssey. Our experience here from then to now is a study in contrasts that I still cannot believe. We are leaving the practice after one visit.
During my exam, I overheard two staff members talking about how they didn’t have modern (or enough) equipment to do the exams. They were excited that a local doctor was going to donate some modern lighted speculums to them because the practice couldn’t afford to buy any.
My practitioner had to leave the room and search several rooms for a speculum. When she located it, the exam proceeded, but it was very odd: in 35 years of these well-​woman exams, I have never had an exam where one person looked inside me while another stood at the foot of the exam table shining a cheap LED flashlight into my V. That should have been a BIG CLUE that things have gone downhill here.
16 years ago, the staff were caring and professional. They had plenty of medical equipment and appropriate medical lamps for lighting.
Today, not so much. Cherie hired her daughter as the office manager, which might explain why when office errors are identified, they are defensive and inappropriately deflect responsibility for THEIR error onto the patient or a pharmacy, or, or, or.
It is 4 days later, and I do not have my medications. I gave them my national chian pharmacy information by showing them my pharmacy app. They wrote the number down and promised to call in the meds.
They didn’t do it. They said first that they couldn’t find my pharmacy — a national chain. The staff at the BWC apparently cannot use the Internet to look up a pharmacy, lack focus to write the whole address down, or have no desire to care for their patients by expending effort to do their jobs.
They do however have PLENTY of energy to defend themselves and deflect responsibility for their failures: when I called back the day after repeating my pharmacy info to them over the phone, they said they hadn’t called in my prescription becasue they couldn’t read MY handwriting of the pharmacy number, and I refused to return their calls to me. I never wrote it down for them, and I have no missed calls.
When I called Cherie Boettcher (the owner) she was very insistent that they were not incompetent and that all delays in getting the meds called in were the fault of my misidentification of the national chain pharmacy location, my bad handwriting, my refusal to call them back, and my irresponsibility to follow up with my own care. They had NO RESPONSIBILITY for, or remorse about, me not getting my medications at all. UNBELIVEVABLE!
Now here we are the day after THAT (4 days now), and I STILL don’t have my meds because the BWC has not called them in. I will be going there today, unannounced, for a paper prescription. Wish me luck.
DO NOT SUBJECT YOURSELF AND YOUR BABY TO THESE IRRESPONSIBLE AND UNPROFESSIONAL PEOPLE!!!
For what it is worth, I am taking my own advice. My daughter and I are leaving this practice TODAY

Extremely unorganized. Some of the midwives are fantastic, but others just don’t understand basic human interaction. Cherie is not open to other options when it comes to anything throughout the pregnancy. It is her way or the highway, we took the highway. We decided to leave after my wife was already 6 months in. It has been almost 9 months since our daughter was born and I am still waiting for them to file claims and get me my refund (which is no small amount of $). Her «office manager» (daughter) is a great lady, but she is extremely disorganized. After asking for alternative options on the glucose test (which Cherie was not open to) my wife ended up taking it (which gave her a yeast infection, like we knew it would); we never received a call, which is supposed to mean that she passed. Two weeks later (just as my wife was getting over the yeast infection) they call and tell us that they lost the paperwork on the labs and that she had actually failed, and needed to come in to retake the test!
There were several more reasons why we left. Some of the midwives are very harsh when they present information. There was never any upside to a situation. It was always presented as a way to make us fear what «could» happen. Every appointment we left, my wife was crying. It was a very depressing and negative atmosphere that they had created. That is no «peaceful» place to give birth.
A birthing center is supposed to be an alternative place to give birth that is not as rigid as a hospital. There is a wealth of information at your fingertips these days, and doctors and midwives need to understand that their patients are now equipped with just as much information as them. I am not saying that we knew more or had more experience than the midwives, but I am saying that they should be a little more open to other options and not rigid just like the doctors at hospitals that are pushing the «typical» birth experience.
Rachel was awesome! If you have her throughout the whole experience (which is not guaranteed) then you will love it.
Also, they do use and will push Cytotec to induce labor. Do your research.

Just had my little bundle here 4 days ago. The care I received was top notch from start to finish!
As far as my appointments, I never had to wait more than 15 minutes, and I was usually seen right away! I never felt rushed and we always had plenty of time to ask questions or just chat! It was so nice to call and have staff immediately know who I was! There is a level of personal care here that I think is nearly impossible to receive with a regular OB!
Without going into too much detail, I will say that my labor and delivery were everything I wanted and more. What an awesome experience!!!
I will say that this experience certainly isn’t for everyone. There are certain things you will have to do that are VERY different from birthing at a traditional hospital. Just know that going into this or any other birth center. Again, it was the perfect experience for me!

It was a horrible experience. I had my second and last child there, nothing I can do about it now. I just want others to be weary of the «care» these women give. The place was unorganized, not intimate and no one cared about my best interest. The antithesis of what I signed up for. So many things to say that infuriated me and my husband. If are really interested I will tell you my story. But, please just do as much research on other midwives in town before you decide on this business.

I am pregnant with my first baby due in September (less than 3 months away) and have been with the Dallas Birthing Center for every step of my pregnancy… I LOVE IT!!! The nurse midwives are kind, thoughtful, and super resourceful to any and all questions and concerns I may have about having a natural child birth.
My husband was on the fence when I told him I wanted to look into this place, but after going to one of their tour nights and having a Q&A session with one of the midwives, it really eased his mind. Not to mention Baylor medical is RIGHT across the street and emergency access is available if needed.
As far as attention goes, I love being known by my first name when I walk in and greeted by the receptionist and how I get quality time with every midwife (there are 3) so no matter who is on duty when it comes time to deliver, they all know me and I will feel comfortable with them!
If you are even considering natural childbirth, I would HIGHLY recommend that you check out this center. It has an amazing legacy of healthy births and gives YOU the option to deliver how YOU feel comfortable.

I didn’t actually succeed in birthing my son at the beautiful Center (17 years ago) because during labor at the Center his heart rate declined and I had to be transferred to Baylor, but my experience with Cherie and all the CNM’s was incredible. Even the birth at Baylor was made better knowing the experience I was hoping to create, but in what might of been my disappointment in not having him at the Center, Cherie was calm and positive and helped me create a similar as possible experience at Baylor. I went home that day — no overnight and was never separated from my baby. I am of course forever grateful she transferred me and didn’t take any chances with my son and provided excellent care start to finish; she has good judgement about these things and you can trust her. I know there wouldn’t be anyone associated with the Center that wasn’t top-​notch. I love the annual picnics they host with all the former patients. It is a great place to have a baby for those like myself wanting the natural childbirth experience, even as a VBAC. Someday I hope to stop by and find my son’s footprint on the wall. Maybe for his 18^th bday:)

I had all 3 of my children there. It was a great place for me. My personality messed with the staff and Midwives. I had a different birth assistant and midwife all 3 times and they were all great. I can’t say one was better than the other. They took care of me even during my weakest. I especially like going home early. Talking to other women who had a hospital birth seems I recovered 100% faster then them.
Real natural birth isn’t for everyone but for those who want it need to make sure your personalities mess with the staff and midwives. I’d encourage everyone to attend Meet and Greets with any birth center before making a decision.

do NOT recommend Swiss avd Birth Center to anyone! I had a horrible experience there. They didn’t want me working with a dula. The bad mouthed my Bradley class instructor only wanted me to use her friend. They tried to get me to take Cytotec because I was 1.5 weeks past my due date. I took it home. I researched it. I called them and told them I didn’t want to take it and I wanted to wait. They freaked out at me and made me feel like a bad mother for questioning them. I came back the next day and they told me how I could kill my baby and have placental abruption, ect. At this point I was miserable, now scared. I took it. So began 3 long days of horrible labor without dilating hardly at all because my body wasn’t ready. During this whole time they had me with a birth ASSISTANT I had never even met. Cherrie (my midwife) was too busy seeing patients that weren’t in labor. I DID NOT KNOW THE BIRTH ASSISTANT! The 3^rd day, I told them over and over, something was wrong, I could feel it. Baby wasn’t coming out. She finally took me to the hospital. I could barely walk. Cherrie my midwife, walked ahead of me, didn’t help me or get a wheel chair. My baby was faced the wrong way and for 3 hours I had been pushing him and his head was swelled up and he wasn’t coming out! Her girlfriend (life partner) Dr. Graham was the doctor at Baylor who preformed my c section. Cherie, Dr. Graham and the Bradley instructor are all sort of in business together. It’s a horrible place. ALL BUISNESS AND MONEY! I thought they would be more into natural approach but clearly are not. It was horrible. Cherrie knew the hospital like the back of her hand. When I was being prepped she went into the drawers got out a gown for herself, new where everything was. There is so much more that happened but I still can’t even talk about it 18mo later. When I came to her girlfriends office, Dr. Graham to have a recheck after baby was born Cherie showed up and burst through my exam room door and asked me how my little girl was (I had a boy) I cried and told her I wanted her to leave. She said she understood that I was upset I didn’t have the birth I wanted but that happened and hopefully I would realize how «silly» I was being and enjoy my baby. I wanted to slap her. She has no compassion and is all BUISNESS! So after I paid her over $ 3,000 cash I am still paying off her Life partner for my c-​section. LOVERS LANE is where I should have gone. I hope that nobody has to go through what we went through at Swiss Ave Birth Center!
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Oh wow, I’m tearing up just looking at these photos. My first and only, Ian Alejandro, was born at the Birth Center on Jan 17, 2009. It was an incredible experience with no medical intervention (read: narcotics, numbing drugs, etc.) whatsoever. I wouldn’t do it any other way.
The CNM’s are so knowledgable and professional. Beverly is an incredible spirit. I birthed Ian in the main room on the bedpost after laboring upstairs and in the jacuzzi tub downstairs. Jason caught the slippery little guy and cut his umbilical cord. He also got to give Ian his first bath. Our recovery was nurturing and swift, and we were back home 13 hours later. I was fully able to walk, wear my old clothes, etc. within 5 days. None of this would have been possible in a hospital with a medicated birth.
I encourage all families-​to-​be to consider natural childbirth and the Birth & Women’s Center. It’s unforgettable! It takes a lot of commitment, endurance and strength. But now, I feel like I can accomplish ANYTHING.

Beautiful home like setting close to Baylor Hospital. Birth Center is in a historic Victorian located next to a tranquil park. Certified nurse midwives and staff provide excellent care.