A List of Providers in the Los Angeles Area
Building Trust for an Empowered Birth Experience.
I have been talking to clients about the importance of informed consent for many years now. If you are not sure what I mean by informed consent, you can read this newsletter I wrote.
The providers on this list are people with whom I personally have attended births or know to provide exceptional care. A *good* provider is someone that not only honors informed consent but also builds a level of connection with their client/patient which in turn generates trust.
To put it simply, without trust, birthing people do not feel safe enough to give birth. When someone is anxious or scared, the body does not relax. In fact the opposite happens; the body tenses up and the pelvic floor tightens. This tightening is communicating to your baby “don’t come. It is not safe here”. This is evolutionary biology. When the body does not feel relaxed enough to begin labor, it then it usually relies on medical interventions.
While I am not writing this to denigrate medical interventions (there absolutely is a time and place), it is important to articulate that when there is a proper foundation of trust built at the beginning of the patient-provider relationship, it is less likely for the pregnant person to feel insecure or stressed about how labor will unfold.
There are medical providers that believe trust is inherent in their relationship with a client/patient. As if trust should be freely given to them. Afterall they are the expert.
What I have come to realize is that it is not.
In order for there to be trust between the client/patient and the provider, there must be ongoing conversation (read: time spent together). If a provider is allocating 5-10 minutes total in a prenatal appointment, the client most likely will not feel seen, heard or held - all of which are paramount in someone’s ability to trust another.
Since I have had many people over the years ask me who I would recommend for the most informed and empowered birth experience, I figured why not share my list?
As a doula I am able to freely share my (humble) opinion with working in different settings and with different providers. I do not work for the hospital system, nor do I work for a midwife. My alliance solely remains with birthing families.
Midwives
Allegra Hill + Kimberly Durdin
Cedars Sinai Medical Center
Dr. Paul Crane
Dr. Jason Rothbart
Dr. Peyman Banooni
Dr. Allison Quimby
Dr. Sara Twogood
Huntington Hospital
Dr. Joana Tamayo
Dr. Rashida N’Gouamba
Dr. Vanessa Isiaka
Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital
Dr. Emiliano Chavira
St. Mary Medical Center Long Beach
Dr. Emiliano Chavira
UCLA Santa Monica
Dr. Amy Stoddard
Dr. Alexander Chiang
St. John’s Santa Monica
Dr. Phabillia Affleck
I acknowledge that not every person has the ability to choose their provider or is able to have an out of hospital birth with a midwife. In this case I would highly recommend hiring a skilled birth doula that has experience working within the medical system. There are two facilities in the Los Angeles Area that I have seen the most amount of clients have positive birth experiences.
They are Kaiser Permanente Sunset and UCLA Ronald Regan.
I am certain there are additional providers beyond this list that offer comprehensive care. If your provider, whether it is a doctor or a midwife, is not listed here but are interested in potential feedback, feel free to email me hello@keelysemler.com.