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Review content:
My first impression with Dr Welch was that he was very professional. He seemed so personable, looked me in the eye, etc. His staff was also always very kind (perhaps they are the ones giving five stars...?). However, as my due date drew near things began to change. I was due Thanksgiving weekend and had been very clear about not wanting interventions that were not medically necessary. When he asked about an epidural I told him that I wasn't opposed to one per se, but I would like to see how things go first. I knew that having an epidural increases the chance of slowing down labor and needing pitocin. And that pitocin increases the risk of birth complications. At 36 weeks he told me I was 2 cm dilated, at 37 I was 3cm, and at 38 weeks he told me that because I was 4cm, I had no choice but to go directly across the street to the hospital and there was no time to go home. He used a medical term that I hadn't heard before - later I found out that it simply means that the baby's head is not staying engaged in the pelvis and is NOT a valid medical reason for an emergency induction. As I was walking out the door, I said ""no pitocin, right?"" Dr. Welch said ""Oh, you're going to need pitocin, but don't worry, we'll go slow.""
So I get to the hospital and they begin the pitocin drip. I work in healthcare, so of course I'm paying attention to how much/often the nurses are turning up the drip. After returning to work I looked up the drip rate and found that Dr. Welch used HIGH DOSE pitocin induction, not low dose as he implied.
After 4 hours of high dose pitocin, the nurse checked me and told me that I was 4cm. I now believe that I was never 4cm in his office, and that he lied to me in order to ensure that I delivered before the holiday. Anyways, a few hours later when Dr. Welch came to check on me, I was 7cm and he said that I HAD to have my water broken and he couldn't believe that I hadn't requested an epidural yet. I had been tolerating the contractions just fine, but since artificially breaking the water greatly speeds up labor, the hour between my water being broken and getting the epidural was sheer hell. Our bodies are designed to tolerate a slow increase in contractions, not a sudden shift into high gear. It turns out that it was all too fast for my LO, as his head became stuck in the sunny side up position. After a little pushing with the nurses, Dr. Welch came in and said that he would need to use suction. One contraction later, he pulled my son out, tearing me to shreds. After reading some of the other posts, I guess I should be grateful that I still had the epidural while he sewed me up, but I was still horrified that he stopped stitching to take a call from his wife on his personal cell.
The extensive tearing led to a very long painful recovery. My LO was very bruised as a result of the suction. The bruising led to jaundice and he required a bili blanket at home and daily heel pricks/blood tests for a week - not the best way to begin a recovery from childbirth.
At my follow up visit, I was placed in a room where I hadn't been before. I realized that I could hear just about everything that was said in the other exam rooms. I overheard Dr. Welch use the same reasoning to send another woman to be induced well before her due date and I heard another woman scream in pain as he placed an IUD.
If you want a doctor who will be very personable and you plan to see him once a year for pap smears, by all means, go see Dr. Welch. But if you are having a baby and you can think for yourself, Dr. Welch is not the doctor for you.
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