I had a very normal and healthy pregnancy. Upon moving to the area at 30 weeks pregnant I went to see Dr. Welch and transferred all my paperwork. I had my doubts about how natural he wanted to let things progress, but after my initial interview with him, and taking a couple of weeks to think if he was a good fit for us, it became too late in the pregnancy to switch doctors. When my due date neared, he seemed to be very anxious for me to have my baby. At 38 weeks he said I could have my membranes stripped. I didn’t know anything about that, other than what he said, that it could help naturally induce labor. I said okay, only to find out from friends later that it is not usually done until closer to 40 weeks. Thankfully labor did not happen then, but at my 40 week appointment, he insisted I needed to be induced the following morning. At my insistence, he ran a BFF, and the numbers were in normal range, but he still held firm to the belief that I should be induced that next morning and scheduled me without my consent an appointment at the hospital for that morning. Just before the appointment when the nurse brought me back, she said I was the longest hold out in my pregnancy she had seen in her time there. I was 40 weeks and 2 days. Pregnancy can go to 42 weeks. Thankfully, I wound up going into labor naturally that night when my water broke and I did not wind up with and induction. I saw Dr. Welch twice during my delivery, which was more than enough for me at that point. I wound up needing vacuum assistance at the end to deliver my son (which Dr. Welch must not have looked at my records, because up to the day before he apparently wasn’t even aware of the sonogram’s pictures and the notes stating I was carrying a boy). I had 2nd degree tearing and Dr. Welch stitched me up. I can be understanding that maybe it was difficult to sew me up correctly after tearing, but what is my biggest complaint against him is that at my 6 week follow up appointment when I was in tremendous pain still, not just if that area was touched, but even standing or sitting would leave me in pain and Dr. Welch failed to address my complaint of pain. He took a brief moment to look, said everything looked great, and I could resume sex with my husband, just try to relax and have a couple drinks if I needed help the first couple of times. I could not resume sex with my husband without extreme pain, and the daily pain continued for an additional month before I got a 2nd opinion. This doctor upon immediate examination saw that the poor stitching had caused fissuring and I was over-stitched beyond my normal anatomy. He also recognized vaginal atrophy that can happen due to hormonal changes with nursing and postpartum and prescribed an estrogen cream to help. This doctor had to go in and cut and redo the stitching where I had originally torn. I had another 6 weeks of recovery and finally healed. It was amazing the day of this surgery, despite the pain of the actual surgery, for the first time in more than 2 months I actually felt better. I wouldn’t write this review if it had been just for the irritating pressure to induce, or even if he had only stitched me up wrong. I write this review because he either failed to diagnose what was quite easily and quickly diagnosed by another gynecologist, or he lied and tried to cover up his mistake. Either way, I won’t be seeing him again, and I hope you won’t either.
more