How can I possibly put into words just how wonderful Dr. Fortner is?
I met Dr. Fortner in 2015 when I was pregnant with my second daughter. Having lost our first daughter midway through pregnancy, we were quite nervous about our second pregnancy. The most of our care, excluding ultrasounds, came from a local midwife clinic up until our baby girl developed IUGR and HiRoc took over our prenatal care. Having met Dr. Fortner prior to the IUGR, I was familiar with her fantastic, uplifting bedside manner. During our second encounter, her demeanor was much different. She was still fantastic, still encouraging, but also quite serious about what needed to happen to protect our little girl, which I very much appreciated. She was able to deliver difficult to hear news in a gentle and informative manner, without sending us home terrified, which considering our history, was quite a feat.
We were induced early and my body was not ready. It was a high stress situation until Dr. Fortner stopped… by, off duty, and said hello. She was able to completely turn the entire process around by taking time to talk to me, encourage me, and empower me. Our daughter was delivered shortly after shift change the next morning, where she was able to attend. She was a very calming, capable presence to have in the delivery room and I believe whole heartedly that it is because of her that I was able to deliver without a c section. I absolutely loved her.
During our third pregnancy, with surprise twins, one year later, Dr. Fortner was the one who got to break the news that we were having two and not one. I’ll never forget her glowing enthusiasm and excitement that we were having twins. Once again, we were able to witness her phenomenal bedside manner.
Unfortunately, we were diagnosed with cervical incompetence which quickly progressed and led us to being seen every week until delivery. At almost every visit, she would find us in the hallway and give us the biggest, warmest, most encouraging smile or hug and make us feel like she genuinely cared.
One ultrasound was particularly scary and she saw me crying in the hallway awaiting an exam room. She was clearly headed out but came into the room and reviewed our chart. My daughter’s head was very low and my cervix was very short. It was a very serious situation and no one expected us to make it to term before delivery. Dr. Fortner once again had the task of delivering difficult news in the gentlest, most encouraging way. She advised me to call in family to help with our older daughter, advised me on ways to interact with her without endangering the twins, and most importantly, made me feel like despite the circumstances, we could do this! And she was right. We carried the twins all the way to 38 weeks when we had to be induced, after believing they would be delivered at any time after 17 weeks.
Once again, I attribute Dr. Fortner’s capable, calming presence at delivery with my being able to deliver both twins vaginally and avoiding a c section. She even stayed late to deliver them. My son had to be turned and delivered with forceps, but he didn’t have a mark on him. She is incredibly good at what she does.
I would like to mention that the UT OB staff and students absolutely love her and went on about how jealous they were that she would be delivering all of our children and how they hoped when they had children they would be lucky enough for her to be on duty to deliver.
She really is wonderful.
We witnessed her bedside manner during standard, everything is fine visits, during exciting visits, during difficult news visits, during procedures, and during two deliveries. She is always encouraging, uplifting, and empowering.
I truly believe this woman is the reason that we were destined to live in Tennessee during the time that we started our family. She’s the best.
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