"Dr. Brubaker became my OB by pure chance."
That’s how Christina began her story.
She ended it with, “Even though our family is now complete, I am sad that it means I don’t get to see Dr. Brubaker anymore.”
Here’s everything in between:
When I got pregnant for the first time, I went into an appointment at six weeks and found out I miscarried. The OB I saw — actually the first provider I ever interacted with at Women’s Care — was wonderful. I didn’t even realize I was crying until he handed me tissues.
When I got pregnant the second time, my plan was to see him again, but he wasn’t available.
Long story short, Dr. Brubaker was available, and she became my OB. And I’m so lucky it worked out that way.
Following my miscarriage, I carried a lot of anxiety with me, and so when I got pregnant again, I guess you could say I needed a certain amount of reassurance. Dr. Brubaker was that someone I could sit down and talk to. And once we got through the six-week period and had a few ultrasounds, I could let some of that anxiety go.
Dr. Brubaker was with me throughout the journey and delivered my first, although my daughter didn’t want to come out. I had an induction scheduled because of my age and my gestational diabetes. Dr. Brubaker talked me through everything, always asking me what steps I wanted to do or did not want to do. That started on a Monday night.
Evalyn was born Wednesday morning.
My son Henry was also delivered by Dr. Brubaker. Because of a spike in my blood pressure, he was an unplanned C-section. It was three in the afternoon, and after being admitted Dr. Brubaker called the nurse and spoke directly to me, saying, ‘We’re going to do the C-section.’
I knew she had worked all day because I had seen her for an appointment earlier, so I was like, ‘Are you going to be able to do it?’
‘I’m coming back and will be the one to do this,’ she said.
That meant a lot to me.
Looking back at things, appointments I had with Dr. Brubaker (and I had plenty) always relaxed me. She’s just so easy to relate to. I could talk about any issues. She didn’t push me one way or the other. Always explained things. Never judged.
When I started with my birth plan for my daughter, I wanted everything to be natural. And Dr. Brubaker supported that. I didn’t love the idea of being induced, but she helped me understand medically why it needed to happen, why it was safer for me and my daughter to have it done.
With my son Henry, we had the induction scheduled on June 12, which was my goal. When I went in prior to that and my blood pressure spiked, I thought I was fine and just wanted them to give me blood pressure meds and let me go home.
Dr. Brubaker was having none of that.
She knew how I felt, what my hopes were about the delivery, but she had been open and honest with me since we first met — there was trust there — so I knew it was the best course of action for my safety and the safety of my child.
I think she does an amazing job explaining medically (and personally) why and how things get done.
My body didn’t handle pregnancy all that well, and I had my son when I was 39, so now my family is complete.
It made such a difference that Dr. Brubaker was with me and there to deliver both my children.
