Jerrie S. Refuerzo

She was very friendly and informative. She answered all my questions and was very detailed on some aspects of pregnancy on older woman that helped me to make decisions on my fertility plan. I'm now pregnant and will have her as my OBGYN for my high risk pregnancy since I'm 48.

I saw Dr Refuerzo in Mi for the delivery of my second child. I was considered high risk due to being almost 35, diabetic and having high blood pressure though it was very controlled throughout the pregnancy. The pregnancy itself went relatively smoothly, similar to my first. I was induced 3 weeks early since she didn't want him to be too big for delivery and since i did so well the first time around 3 weeks early, I was comfortable with that. She had commented that she would be so glad when the delivery was done making it seem as if it had been a hard pregnancy (for her). Not at all. Induction started early in the AM, pitocin was used. Labor throughout the day went very smoothly since the epidural was so strong, I couldn't feel ANYTHING from the chest down. When it was time to start pushing, every time I pushed, I felt extreme pain on my right side (keep in mind the very strong epidural so nothing should have been that bad). I kept saying that something was wrong and my right… side hurt. I was told it was just the contractions, though it was VERY different from the first time around. After pushing for over an hour and getting more and more out of control, she called for forceps but then the crowning baby disappeared. I ended up having an emergency c-section and when she went in for my son, she found that my uterus had ruptured just shy of the uterine artery. He was born not breathing and a very low heart rate. He spent 4 days in the NICU. I questioned why she saved my uterus and she suggested I'd be fine should I want to get pregnant again, though my regular OBGYN had recommened should I get pregnant again, I'd be on bedrest for the majority of the delivery (not safe at all). When my records were reviewed, I was told too much pitocin is most likely what caused the rupture, which wouldn't have happened had she called for a c-section almost immediately after starting to push since he wasn't recovering between contractions well. I was left feeling that while being put in the care of a high risk doctor, she was not qualified for that position. Thankfully 8 yrs later, we are both doing well but that experience still haunts me.