New Beginnings

I have been to New Beginnings twice now — once for my second son (when my doctor felt that some of his initial measurements were off) and now for my third (for a standard level 2). The first visit was nothing special. No, Dr. Carpenter is not overly warm and fuzzy, but he assured me that things looked good and I left feeling much more relieved. This time, however, we met with Patty (the ultrasound tech) and I had a great time. She was sweet, informative, and thorough. The office is modern and inviting, and everyone was pleasant.
I noticed some reviews that talked about rude ultrasound techs, a difficult doctor, and large family visits. There is a paper that you sign at the start of the appointment that discusses that this visit IS a medical visit. While ultrasounds are exciting for all new parents, multiple people coming in and taking pictures is discouraged. At first, this made me nervous. My husband and I had our 2 ½ year old and my mother met us there to be sure that he was watched while we had our appointment. To my surprise, we were all welcomed into the room and questions were not discouraged.
Overall, I’d recommend this office. I might have been lucky, but they know what they are doing and when it comes to the health of your baby, that is all I’m asking for, really.

I had a mostly great experience at New Beginnings — I mean, how can it not be?! You’re seeing your baby in 3D for the first time. I was greeted warmly by a competent staff, and the actual ultrasound was very comfortable; the room was warm, the bed was cozy and the technician was kind, informative and in no way rushing through anything. I felt very cared for and enveloped in kindness and support.
Were New Beginnings fell a tad short for me was the unnecessary meeting with the genetic counselor post-​ultrasound, who is there to review the scans with you and answer any questions. She knew nothing when we did ask our questions — in fact, I felt I knew more just from doing some preliminary reading. While the idea of this chit-​chat is nice, if they’re going to provide that service it should be with someone who can actually do it.
The building is nice; clean, well-​lit and recently built. Parking can be trick so be sure to leave a few extra minutes prior to arrival time, and make sure they have all of your insurance info pre-​visit so you don’t have to scramble with that when all you want to do is see that baby!

In the two times that we have had occasion to meet with Dr. Carpenter, it was a wonderful experience. The sonogram technicians are excellent. Lovely establishment. The sonogram technician even came in an hour early one day because she cared for the health of our babies. The stress tests are done in another room though and not by the technician. In my experience, this was done by the girls at the front desk. Not sure what their qualifications are, however we would usually spend a half hour more than we should trying to find one baby and ⁹⁄₁₀ they ended up having to call the sonogram tech in for assistance to find the baby. I did not feel as if we had experts or qualified individuals doing the stress test and at 37 weeks plus with twins, felt this put us at risk.
Quite often we experienced rudeness from the front desk staff with a lot of attitude.
Issues with scheduling and a lack of prioritization for high risk, near full term twin pregnancies though. I can only chock this up to a lack of experience. We had to complain to our doctor after we were told, «This is your doctor’s problem, not ours. Tell him to deal with it». Really hate that trash attitude and I don’t think this is how Dr. Carpenter would want to be represented. Appointments that could not be made, suddenly could be made and they would try to make it seem as if they told me when they did not as I request an appointment card every time. You are only as good as your front desk staff and we were forced to leave and go to another facility as their lack of prioritization and organization with scheduling put my twins and I at risk.
They shut for lunch from 12−1PM every day, so pee before you go there as they do not open the doors promptly at 1PM and there is no place for you to sit outside of the office while you wait. Pregnant moms are forced to stand in the hall against the wall. There are only 4 designated parking spaces and the rest is street parking. If you can’t get one of these spaces, be prepared to walk or have your husband drop you off so he can go find a place to park.
Since my Obgyn sent us to another facility, we had a RN doing our sonogram and stress test and we were out of there in record time. Qualified staff without any baby hunting. No attitude. Very professional and spot on for scheduling.
Again, we loved Dr. Carpenter and the sonogram techs. Just wish he would sort out his front desk.

I went in yesterday for my Level 2 ultrasound, and had a wonderful experience. The waiting area is nicely decorated, and the women working at the front desk were friendly and helpful.
My ultrasound tech was very pleasant. She explained everything she was doing, and made conversation while she worked as well. Since my placenta was in the way, she couldn’t get a great 3-​d picture but I didn’t go in feeling like I needed one so that didn’t bother me. She did make an effort to get one though, and I left with 8 pictures total.
The genetic counselor was informative and friendly as well.
And I know this probably sounds silly but I was impressed with the bathroom. It looked like it belonged in a spa.
Overall, I can honestly see no reason why anyone would have a problem with this place. This is my second child and probably the best experience I’ve had so far.

We went for our level 2 US today. They have a beautiful & clean office with very friendly staff. Our technician was great and explained what we were seeing as she was doing the scan. The genetic counsellor came and spoke to us after to go over the results. Everything was normal in our case. Would recommend this place to others.

Yesterday I had an appointment there from my Dr.‘s referral, for the 13 week down syndrome ultrasound. I had an awesome experience there. I loved Patty, she is just wonderful. She is the best thing happen to the office. Explained everything that goes on during the visit, which makes it the best! It was nice to enjoy those first moments of seeing your baby with her. The office is nice and clean, great design, huge bathroom :)
Will definitely recommend!

I am so surprised to find negative reviews from expectant mothers. I have been coming here for almost a month and half for bi-​weekly NST and biophysical tests. Everyone who works here is fabulous. Patty, the ultrasound technician, is amazing at what she does. She is so personable and wonderful, that I was almost at tears to say goodbye. She explains everything that is happening on the screen for you, so you are not at loss. Dr. Carpenter and his wife Mary Kate do a wonderful job, considering this is a high risk center. The place is beautifully decorated, and transcends peaceful and calming effect on future mothers. I would highly recommend New Beginnings, along with it’s helpful staff.

I was really shocked to read the negative reviews of New Beginnings because I had a fantastic experience. Seeing as this office is 30 minutes from my home in Massachusetts and in not the greatest area of Providence, I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the office was. It was warm and inviting and very colorful. They even had a plate of cinnamon rolls on the counter for patients. The women I dealt with, from the receptionist to the ultrasound tech, were wonderful. My tech was very knowledgeable and got some great pictures of my 12 week-​old baby. I really loved it here and don’t have a negative word to say about it. It was very clean and almost reminded me of someone’s home, not a doctor’s office.

My doctor scheduled me for a 12 week ultrasound here. I arrived about 30 minutes early since it was my first time. To my surprise the place was closed at 1:00. I mean closed. No lights and door locked. I think it is really unprofessional to shut down your business and not even have a receptionist available to seat pregnant women.
Inside I was given a form to fill out and wait. The staff was having a good laugh at someone on the phone who was lost.
I was then called for my exam. Upon entering the room I asked if I could go to the bathroom because… well I really had to go. The lady Jackie said no. I was under the impression that she just wanted to get some paperwork done and then I could go. Nope. She asked me to lay down and pull my pants down. I then asked something along the lines of «what are we doing» and she replied with «an ultrasound»… I had to ask what she was looking for to get any answers whatsoever. She said they were trying to get pictures of neck skin or something to test for downs syndrome.
This went on for about 30 minutes and then I noticed her measuring my ovaries. I asked why and she said «its part of the exam». Now either she has no idea what she is doing which is concerning or she just didn’t want to be bothered by questions. In either case it was terrible bedside manner.
After it was done she told me I could finally use the bathroom because she had to check the pictures. I guess she couldn’t wait the 2 minutes at the beginning for me to go to the bathroom. The bathroom was very nice, but its a shame they wont let you use it whenever you need it.
It is my first time being pregnant and I would rather have a doctor who explained things then just going to the place that doesn’t explain anything unless you drill them. I plan on informing my obgyn about this in hope that other pregnant women do not have to have this experience. I guess however if you have been through this and or don’t have questions then this place is good.

This place is OK, just OK. I’ve experienced much better.
My doctor scheduled a level 2 ultrasound for me at New Beginnings, she said it was the best place in RI to have ultrasounds done. The equipment is supposed to be top of the line and they have the best sonographers in all of RI, so she said. I reluctantly agreed to schedule my level 2 there as I’m 45 mins away from there and I usually go to Narragansett radiology.
I read some reviews for New Beginnings on super pages and they weren’t great. Not to mention that the tech at Narragansett radiology said that the man there had «terrible bedside manners». I prepared myself for the worst and gladly my experience wasn’t a bad one.
The décor in this place is like no other. Really modern and beautiful, it doesn’t feel like a medical office when you walk in at all, it’s more like a café or something. It’s very nice and comfortable.
The bathrooms are huge, and I mean huge, they seriously have a shower in them and there are actual towels for you to dry your hands on — wow.
The ultrasound rooms on the other hand weren’t special at all and just plain, the bed was horribly uncomfortable. I had back pain so bad it made me nauseous. The bed was too short and my lower legs were hanging off which caused a horrific strain on my back. A level 2 takes time so it was not pleasant to say the least. I could barely pay attention to seeing my baby because the pain was so bad.
The tech I had, can’t remember if her name was Diane, Dana but it was for sure a d name. She never explained anything, I had to ask her what she was looking at every time. She asked if I wanted to know the gender, I said yes, she said there was no penis but did not show us, nor did she take a pic. I left with 3 mediocre pictures, my Dr. told me I would get a «bunch» and some 3D ones. My baby wouldn’t cooperate and show her face so we couldn’t get a 3D of the face, but she didn’t even try with the gender.
We did meet with the genetic counselor, who supposedly has bad bedside manner. He was very pleasant, not demeaning at all, and had a lot of good info for us. Although, we had no abnormal findings on our ultrasound. Maybe he is different if there are… I don’t know.
Overall, I was not impressed at all. I’d rather go to a place where the tech explains everything they are doing and shows you your baby’s gender. I could have just gotten a bad tech but there is always that chance if I go back.
I need regular growth scans and I won’t be choosing this place to get them.