Woodhull Medical Center

Reviews (4)

• Natural birth in NYC

  September 2022

  I highly recommend the midwives at Woodhull Hospital. Many public hospitals get overlooked or are perceived to have a bad reputation but I believe this to be racist and untrue. I was planning a home birth and ultimately had to transfer to the hospital in the final 30 minutes. We chose Woodhull because even though some medical intervention was required in my case, the midwives’ general philosophy there is to allow birth to take its natural course as much as possible. I ultimately avoided a c-birth, remained unmedicated, and had an overall positive experience there. This is because of the skill and attention of all providers (midwife, OB, and nurses) who attended my son’s birth. My son required a short stay in the NICU and all pediatricians involved in his care had a similar “low intervention” point of view. We received excellent postpartum care in the hospital as well as at the follow up visit. The midwife who did my 6 week visit (Tahiti Starship) generously made herself available for another visit to give my partner the opportunity to debrief the birth as well. In addition to all this, the thing my partner remembers the most was how genuinely kind, patient, and helpful everyone was.

• Review from the 2021 Birthing Experience Survey

  April 2021

  Woodhull is mid-wife run and I had a great experience giving birth there. The midwives, OBGYN, and nurses were very supportive during my birth and explained all options and procedures to me. I felt like my voice was heard and was well cared for. I was able to have a safe vaginal birth even though I was pushing for many hours. My doula said my birth would have most likely ended in a c-section at any other hospital. Every birthing person has a spacious, private postpartum room and partners are able to stay overnight. All babies room-in with parents unless there is some issue. I also received all my pre-natal care at Woodhull. I considered switching to the Brooklyn Birthing Center or to having a home birth but I could not get my insurance to cover it and I would have had to transfer anyway because I ended up needing more pushing support due to my baby's position (occiput posterior or sunny-side up). While there was often a lot of waiting, I always felt like the midwives took time to answer my questions and the hospital policies were in line with what I generally wanted for my birth.

• 2018 Birth Survey

  November 2018

  We were planning on a home birth but baby came 5.5 weeks early. We started at Methodist (Park Slope) and had really bad interactions with the staff. They discharged us so when things got serious we went to Woodhull. Great birthing ward. Private rooms and a more understanding staff. Liked the attending midwife a lot. Terrible neighborhood and overall dingy hospital.

• Review submitted via the 2016 Birth Survey

  October 2016

  Recommend? Recommend with reservations Review: Woodhull is a no-frills state hospital. I was transferred here by my midwife because I planned a home birth, but after my water broke meconium was visible which indicated transfer to a hospital (because of a risk that the baby can aspirate the meconium). Woodhull's Midwifery department has a strong presence and this is why my midwife brought me here. With her guidance and the help of the midwives there, I gave birth naturally with absolutely no intervention. I am very grateful for that. After the birth, the lactation nurse took very good care of us. Breastfeeding was well-supported. There are some great nurses and some who are not very warm. We were able to keep our baby in our room with us, but only after a bit of back and forth with the Nursery department. Advice: I can only recommend their Midwifery services since that is what we used. I don't know what its like to deliver with an OB-GYN there. The midwives are wonderful, as are the pediatricians and the lactation nurse. I'd recommend you bring a doula to advocate for you, especially if you have a very specific birth plan. The food is awful. Member notes about insurance: Yes, they take insurance. We had to pay a $2500 deductible and co-pay as indicated by my policy. Based on a January 2016 birthing experience