Dr. Suzanne E Berger

I had Suzanne Berger for my second birth. I had been in labor for 12 hours at home, was in extreme pain, and my contractions were 5 minutes apart. I went in to see Suzanne and she told me I had arrived much too early and that I should go home. I live about 30 minutes from the hospital and we were in the middle of a snow storm, so I told her I did not want to go home. My two year old was also there and I didn’t want her to see me in pain. I had been through a birth before and knew the baby was coming sooner than later. I told her I wanted an epidural and wanted to stay. She immediately told me I was overtired and I should go home and sleep, she could give me drugs to go back to sleep she said. I was in shock, my baby was coming, I couldn’t go home! Drugs to sleep?! She kept fighting back, telling me I should go home and shower. Just relax. Get some sleep. I felt unwelcome at the hospital and that I was being treated as just a delirious, hysterical woman. She then suggested I go walk… around Rhinebeck, a town in the middle of a snowstorm, when I was 39 weeks pregnant. It felt insane. I told her I couldn’t leave. She then disappeared despite my calls for help and extreme pain. I told the nurses I needed an epidural, but nothing was ordered. Finally my water broke. Suzanne returned and said the baby was coming. YES! Just what I had been saying for hours. I asked for an epidural again. She told me it was too late. The baby was coming. I was furious and felt robbed of the birth experience I wanted. As much as I was thrilled to have a happy healthy baby, I had a hard time enjoying that moment after being so angry and in so much unnecessary pain. Suzanne then said, “see? You didn’t beed the epidural!” I was so shocked, I couldn’t say anything to her. The next day my nurse told me that Suzanne said she was very sorry. But not once did she speak to me directly. It was horrifying.

Suzanne is a very kind and caring person who has a good heart. However there were issues when I was in labor. I was screaming in pain and decided I wanted an epidural even though this wasn't part of my original plan. She pushed back REALLY hard and argued with me when I was begging for relief. I spent an hour insisting that I did want an epidural and she was very judgemental and would not consent to order the epidural for me. Eventually after I spent a huge amount of energy advocating for myself when I was experiencing increasing pain and terror she did order it. And after that she kept making comments about how I wouldn't be able to move and how she had never ordered an epidural so early and how it was going to be bad. The epidural was absolute heaven and I can't believe how hard I had to fight for it. The energy I had to spend on this was the worst part of my whole labor. I think she has the best of intentions but I chose midwives because I thought they would honor what I wanted as… in individual, not push their own agenda.