Louisville, KY Doctor

[AngelaHGx2]

I am looking for a doctor in Louisville, KY who is experienced with HG.

[mammaclare]

Oh, how I wish I were still there. We moved from Louisville this past February, as I was promoted and relocated. However, I did deliver my HG baby there--at Baptist East.

I did NOT love my OB group, but I did love the peri and the one OB who saw me most. I would say that this is a catch-22 with this group, because it is a large practice and you can't ever get your doc live on the phone and you have to call through triage nurses and some were kind and others were rude to me.

However, I would still highly recommend Dr. Kelli Miller and Dr. Ann Clark. I think I submitted Dr. Miller (my main OB) to the list of docs on this site. Dr. Clark is the high risk OB. Together, they followed me, seeing me every week. After my 2nd IV, Dr. Miller wanted my on a PICC at home, but I chickened out. They kept me stocked with Zofran from week 7 to delivery. They wanted my on other meds (vistaril) but I was too afraid (weird phobia I developed). They also wanted me on Zoloft for the depression I had after months of illness--again I refused and wish I hadn't.

Bottom line is I got great care, and was offered even more aggressive care but I kept turning down new options (wish I could do that over again!). They are not afraid of meds, and Dr. Miller in particular, is EXTREMELY warm and compassionate. She was realistic and fair with me too. Dr. Clark made me feel like it was okay to be sick and that we would make it together, even if it sucked every single step of the way (which is mostly did).

The only downside to consider is that it is a large practice, and you can't predict who will deliver you, and towards the end of the PG they ask that you see all of the docs at least once as you near delivery. But, the first 24 weeks I only saw Drs. Miller and Clark and they were amazing. I would suggest ONLY the two of them from that group (and really Dr. Miller, because if you are very ill she will consult with Dr. Clark, but she gives more time in appts), at least as your lead docs.


They are at Women First, which is based at Baptist East. Please let me know if I can help in any way at all. Also, I had an amazing doula if natural birth is your thing--I can give you her name as well.

Best of luck, and if you do go see Dr. Miller, please tell her hello from her worst and whiniest patient ever, me!

[mammaclare]

Oh, and if you do get PG and need an HG buddy, I would love to help you and be your buddy. I am in Louisville for business a few times a month and lived there for 5 years.

[AngelaHGx2]

Thanks so much to your reply. I am so happy to find someone farmiliar to louisville. I will take you up on that offer if we do get pregnant. It is funny becuase I actually had an appt with Dr. Clark on Monday and it went well. I am very pleased with her, and even more pleased now that you gave your opinion. That really makes a huge difference.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I will be talking to you soon.
Angela from Louisville

[krdoty]

I've already sent you a PM in response to another of your posts, but I wanted to put this up for the next time we have a user looking for an OB in Louisville. I might even think of more to add that I didn't include in my PM, if that's possible.

My OB was Dr. Heath Brown with East End OB GYN. The OBs in the practice deliver at Baptist East only. FWIW, I was happy with East End, but not so happy with Baptist East. I cannot speak highly enough of the nurses in L&D. The mother/baby unit is another story. They kept wanting to bottle feed Norman. One of my nurses actually put a piece of masking tape on the bassinet and wrote NO FORMULA - FAMILY HISTORY OF FOOD ALLERGIES. Awesome that she thought to do so. Not so awesome that it takes that and a mother speaking up every time a new nurse came on to get them to respect the breastfeeding relationship. I also had to repeatedly contact them to remind that it was time for my meds. A few times I had to send my husband in search of someone because they kept me waiting so long! Not cool given the level of pain I was experiencing after my tubal.

Back to the OB practice. I feel like my HG was handled well, but you should know that my HG was very mild. I never had to fight for my meds. The woman that Dr. Brown had working on the preauth for my Zofran was an idiot, but she eventually got it right. Prior to me, they had never successfully obtained preauth for long-term Zofran. My insurance company approved it for the duration of my pregnancy in 3-month intervals. Their prior experience had been that they could not get preauth for longer than one month. I have no idea if they've had better luck after me. With the Zofran, Phenergan and huge changes to my home environment (I am a SAHM with a hugely supportive husband), I was able to make it through my pregnancy without a single IV rehydration. There were a few times that I really SHOULD have gone in, but I was able to fight myself back to a point where the dehydration was less critical. So all of that is to say that I have no clue how they would handle a more severe case of HG.

East End has three OBs. You rotate through them for appointments and are delivered by whichever doc is on call that day. They each take one or two days during the week and rotate weekends. Here's how I felt about each of them.

Dr. Brown - Nice guy. Never made me feel like I was exaggerating. I cried when he gave me the first refill of Zofran because I thought he would refuse to give me more since I'd not required any IV rehydration. He asked why I would think that. When I told him that the doctor I had for my prior pregnancy refused to even discuss medication for the NV, he was shocked. He told me that he could not understand why any doctor would refuse. He also agreed to do a post meal blood draw rather than the glucose tolerance test. His nurses were crabby about it, but I told them to talk to Dr. Brown if they had a problem with his orders. I had no problems being a beyotch to someone who was rude to me when I was pregnant.

Dr. Bruneau - Total sweetheart. I cried nearly every time I saw her because I could tell she was truly concerned with how the HG and other pregnancy concerns were affecting me emotionally. She encouraged me to use the internet to locate other HGers so that I could get the ideas and support that I needed on a day to day basis to get through the pregnancy. I saw her 5 days after Norman was born to get my tubal incision checked after a mild infection and severe allergic reaction to the antibiotic I had been given for it. I'd been on Zoloft since my 20 week appointment so she asked how that was going, and then she held me while I sobbed. She also gave me guidelines to help me keep my post partum weight loss to a healthier level than where it was at that point.
The only potential negative I have with Dr. Bruneau is that I came out of the tubal she did with a hernia. But I've been told since then by several doctors that is a standard risk to any abdominal surgery. The hernia is small enough that only two doctors have been able to feel it, and I remember her mentioning to the surgical assist (who had never assisted on a PP tubal before) that PP sterilization is usually much easier than mine. So maybe it's not a negative after all?

Dr. Basham - I called her Dr. Beyotch during my pregnancy. To be fair, I probably caught her on a bad day the first time I saw her. The office was crazy busy that day. She was running late after a patient showed up at their office needing emergency transport to the hospital for an immediate delivery. But off day or not, I was not happy. She didn't so much as acknowledge that I'd been waitingn for her in the exam room for an HOUR. She gave me Zoloft or obvious perinatal depression, but did ask not some of the questions that I felt she should have asked. And she was very impersonal. I was so upset that I made a complaint to Dr. Brown. He (and everyone else I've ever talked to about her) was shocked because most people rave that she's just the opposite. I'm told that many patients dislike Dr. Brown and love her. So maybe I'm just a wierdo. I did my best to have a busy schedule on the days that I knew she was in that office, so I only had to see her one other time during my pregnancy. I'm SO GLAD that I delivered when Dr. Brown and Dr. Bruneau were on though because I don't know how I would have done with her in the delivery room.

If I had it to do all over again, I think I would still choose the practice or at least consider them strongly. (I did not interview other docs because I didn't know anything about HG heading into the pregnancy. I went with Dr. Brown because he was recommended by my GP.) If I had to choose one doctor of the three, it would be Dr. Bruneau...despite the issues with my tubal.

[AngelaHGx2]

I went in for a pap today. Dr Clark doesn't do pap's, so I saw Dr. Grider. She called me in some Zafran, and ok'ed the Unisom B6. So I am picking those up today. I am ovulating now, and we haven't had trouble in the past getting pg, so here we go. I do feel better. She said once I get a to call in and get an appt.

[kmomto6]

I could only tell you who NOT to see and where NOT to go.
My HG in Louisville was completely mis/unmanaged but that OB retired just after I delivered. My other OB's (only non- HG pregnancy) were fine. HUGE group out of Suburban. DD was born eons ago at Baptist East in 93 and ds was born at Suburban (Humana) in '94.