Welcoming a baby into the world certainly requires skill, and Sequoia Hospital’s obstetricians have sterling medical credentials. But the Sequoia Birth Center team also offers something that can’t be quantified on a résumé: a passion for helping mom, baby and the entire family get off to a healthy, happy start. In fact, that’s a primary reason two of our newest obstetricians chose to practice at Sequoia.
When Shefali Gandhi-List, M.D., was looking for a place to practice in 2006, she admits that she carefully weighed Sequoia’s benefits against other options. “I came from academic hospitals that were three or four times the size of Sequoia, and I thought, ‘Can I be at a place as small as Sequoia?’ ” she says. “But the nurses were so attentive and hands-on with the new moms and babies. I thought, ‘Do I really want to be at a large facility or in a small family atmosphere where everybody knows your name?’ ”
Now moving into her second year at Sequoia, Dr. Gandhi-List is convinced that the hospital actually offers the best of both worlds. “Sequoia has all the capabilities to handle emergency and high-risk situations, like any academic center,” she says. “We have a neonatal intensive care unit that’s run by Stanford and staffed by their pediatricians and a neonatologist who can handle just about anything. But, at the same time, you get a spacious, private room, which enables you to test out being a family and learn to care for this new life, while also having a little call button if you need some help.”
Because Dr. Gandhi-List had a baby girl herself recently, she appreciates Sequoia’s patient-focused care. “I’m very attentive to my patients’ desires,” she says. “If a woman wants natural childbirth, for example, I’m going to do everything in my power to give her the childbirth she envisions.”
Elaine Chien, M.D., an OB/GYN who joined the hospital in January 2007, says that approach is part of what drew her to Sequoia. “Patients come first,” she says. “The staff doesn’t just ‘medicalize’ the birth experience. They know that having a baby is a natural part of a woman’s life and try to make things as comfortable and homelike as possible while still providing the most up-to-date medical technology available.”
Equally important, adds Dr. Chien, is that the Birth Center team truly appreciates and supports the entire family. “The team is very good at involving the moms’ partners,” she says. “They aren’t told, ‘You’re just going to watch.’ We try to include the whole family in the experience. I’ve worked in a lot of hospitals, and this really is above and beyond anything I’ve ever seen anywhere.”
Dr. Chien is also impressed by the hospital’s commitment to breastfeeding. All new moms are offered breastfeeding help while still in the hospital, and they may also call Sequoia’s Lactation Center for advice anytime after they return home. “We don’t live in villages anymore, where new moms have seen many other women breastfeed, so this is a new skill for most moms,” explains Tonja Kearney, R.N., IBCLC, lactation services coordinator. “We visit each family in our daily rounds and try to observe a feeding with every mom. Moms are wondering, ‘Is my baby getting enough? Is this normal?’ If we can help them weed out those concerns, then the family really has an opportunity to get to know this new little human being with less anxiety.”
All of which contributes to the Birth Center’s overarching commitment: helping families relax and enjoy this magical time in their lives. “There’s a tremendous amount of joy in practicing obstetrics,” Dr. Chien says. “I’ve been doing this for 10 years now, and I still feel like every new life is a miracle.”
