Alexandra Wagner, CPM

I had Alex as a midwife for my first child. I really only went with her because I thought she was the only option. The whole time she was a little difficult to get along with. She made me feel bad that my husband didn’t take off work to come to appointments. My husband has many strengths and one of those being he is a strong protector of his family and worked hard to pay for me to have a midwife. His job did not allow him to take time off. I do not agree with her passive aggressive comments as what is the point? You have a pregnant women in front of you and you go planting seeds in the stability of a marriage right as a baby is on the way? It’s just rude. I ignored it but always had to defend him. There were some other things that bothered me but the main problem I had what when I was in labor. I was in labor for a day in a half and had not slept. I told her I was in labor and she communicated with me on the phone. All was fine. Another women went into labor too and I guess was further along than me so she and the assistant was over there. She came from there to my house. She did not ask how I was doing or any emotional support whatsoever. She checked me and basically sat in the couch on her computer. Not saying anything to me as I labored. She checked me again and I was at 4 cm. She said she saw a little meconium but baby was okay. This is not a reason on its own to go to the hospital but with my lack of sleep and going through TRANSITION without any emotional support from the lady with the experience… the only reason you hire a midwife… I said I’m scared I said I wanted to go to the hospital. This was a situation that I had talked to her about. I asked her in an appointment and made it clear I did not want to go and to make sure that if I did ask that it would be a thing we talked about. I’m disappointed that an “experienced midwife” did not recognize that I was in transit and I was taken to the hospital right away. From all the books and other midwives I have talked to they said the standard is to calm the woman down and talk to her and then ask again. Usually it’s just a normal thing for women to ask even when they don’t want to go. I believe she was tired and didn’t feel like staying with me and doing her job I paid her for. She couldn’t go to the hospital since Covid. So I paid for her and she basically handed me off. To make the situation even worse she was rude to my husband while in our home. Ordering him around and being rude. It was a bad environment for me to labor in but there I was at the end and she happily got me out of the house and went home to sleep. As we were leaving my husband asked us to wait a second and he ran in to check to see if Alex turned the stove off as she was boiling water for the tub she had left the gas ON! And was huffing that we went in to check! My husband didn’t even bother telling her she left it on but it would have killed my cat and probably my MIL when she went to feed him while we were at the hospital. My next midwife told me she is sure I was in transition because that’s exactly how my next homebirth went. I jumped from 4 to 8 in 30 minutes. I’m just so upset that she just did the bare minimum to get paid. Just go with someone else or don’t expect much from her. I still feel frustrated from this situation and it tainted my first sons birth. At the hospital the automatically gave him antibiotics and that was one of the main things I didn’t want. Alex didn’t go over that if I refused a GBS test that they would automatically give those when I went or I would have just got the test. They hooked me up and I didn’t find out until the second dose what they had done. He now has chronic coughs and I feel like it was the antibiotics that hurt his immune system. If she had just cared a little bit more about her people this would have been avoided.

I can't recommend Alex enough! She attended my second birth and my experience with her was amazing! She spent an hour with me at every visit discussing options, educating me and listening to my questions. And she was completely knowledgeable and competent in every way during my delivery. I had a home birth and felt safe and extremely well cared for throughout my labor. Alex is, by far, the best care provider I have ever had!!

Alex is amazing! She is well versed in the medical aspects of birth but also is compassionate and understands the unique challenges pregnancy and postpartum bring. She is available and ready to answer questions and offer support. She has attended the birth of 4 of my children beautifully. I look forward to my pregnancies and birth partly because of my time with her!