Zukoski Jeri

my daughter was born 3 weeks ago w/ jeri as my midwife. she was so calm during delivery, which really let me feel like i was in charge of my daughter's birth. i was in such pain & so fed up w/ contractions that i asked for an epidural when i was still in triage, but she told me that before 5 cm dilation an epidural will almost surely assign you to a c-section...the LAST thing i wanted. i was such a zombie during my entire labor, but she told me only the things i needed to know, calmly, competently. at 7 cm dilation i asked for the epidural again, but the ob nurse at alta bates (lovely staff there, save 1 triage nurse) said jeri suggested fentanyl over the epidural. jeri saved me from the epidural & i had 2 doses of fentanyl, 1 hour a peice. it wasn't a natural birth which would have been ideal, but i delivered vaginally & avoided the epidural, thanks to her. in my opinion, she knows what a woman can tolerate & works w/ you based on what she sees that you can do. if you're a weakling & a whiner, i wouldn't expect much attention from her or anybody else. yes childbirth is painful, but women have been undergoing its joys for centuries over & over, so do your best to be competent on your own account & see your responsibilities & desires through.

Every birth, every mama & every baby is different, so in some ways these reviews are not relevant...

BUT:

I had my birth w/ Jeri 5 years ago & she was AWESOME. I was able to have an unmedicated vaginal birth (both were important to me) 49 hours after my H2O broke-- she DEFINITELY saved me from 'agressive' use of Pitocin, an epidural & c-section!

I have recommended her to others who have also had very positive experiences.

I am also a doula & have worked with her in that capacity. She has been attentive, caring, a great patient advocate & an amazing clinician at all the births I have attended with her.

I facilitate groups for new mothers & have had many participants that had Jeri as their midwife-- again, all positive experiences.

I suggest meeting with her & seeing if you 'click' personality-wise.

I switched later on in my pregnancy from an OB to Jeri Zukoski and Debi Raya as my delivery team and could not have been more pleased with the experience. My husband and I started off our pregnancy on different ends of the spectrum, me: I wanted a home birth no drugs, and my hubby wanted a hospital birth and was supportive of drugs. Jeri was patient with me and my husband and ALL our questions throughout my pregnancy. She always holds the mother and developing baby as her first priority.My intention was to have a normal and natural child birth with no drugs or medical interventions in a hospital, and was able to experience that with this rock star team! My labor was LLLOOONNNGGG and Jeri had the patience to support me in a way that I have no doubt an OB and the hospital RNs would not have taken the time to do. If you want to be nurtured and cared for during your pregnancy and delivery, Jeri is the midwife for you.My baby and I labored for a total of 39 hours, 2 and a half of which was the pushing phase, during which my content little baby girl crowned for 45 minutes! Jeri and her bottle of mineral oil, hung in there and supported us through our delivery process. The key is throughout the entire pushing stage, Jeri stayed attuned to the babies health, which was great, my stamina and saw that we were doing great, we were just taking a long time. She supported me entirely, and I have nothing but appreciation and respect for her and the gift she shares with this world.

Had a home birth with her...against her wishes. She wanted to transfer me because "She felt better in a hospital." She fought constantly with my husband. She seemed terrified the minute she walked in the door. Thank the lord for her support staff. Debbie was phenomenal.

Jeri was extremely supportive throughout the pregnancy, but the minute I got close to "go time" she completely changed. She is known to do this throughout the midwifery community. I am one of many who have had this experience with her. My Bradley coach tried countless times to warn me, but I didn't listen. Now I have to heal the past.

I am deeply grateful to have found Jeri as our midwife for my 3rd baby. People often say 3rd child is a "wild card" and does not follow a pattern for labor that is expected from the previous ones. Indeed, the labor and delivery was different from my others, however with her help, I was able to remain calm and reassured that she would know how to handle ANYTHING that we faced. With two false labor calls on Easter and Mother's day, Jeri was available within minutes of paging her. Then, when the day came for Lily to be born, Jeri came to the hospital and I quickly learned that Jeri is not only an awesome midwife, but she has a 'presence' at the hospital that EVERYONE respected. Her level of experience shows by her touch. To have someone of her expertise as well as level of love and compassion is worth millions. As a medical professional myself, I can honestly say that she is one of a kind!

Jeri Zukoski is an extremely experienced, competent and sensitive professional. I would highly recommend her midwifery services. She is calm, thorough and caring. She uses both her intuition and years of clinical expertise to guide her personal care of each unique woman she treats. You can count on her to be responsive and available for consultation when needed.

Jeri delivered both my children and she's the best!

Both births were perfect - no medication, no tears and my husband caught both babies. There were tons of encouragement from Jeri and my doula, Virginia Duplessis, that pulled me through the tough times. Seriously, Jeri walked me off the ledge when I was laboring with my second child. I was weak and may have given in for the epidural. I get goosebumps when I think about all that Jeri did for me (spending hours with me in the delivery room - emotional support, verbal encouragement, perineal massages, support before and after birth, etc.). I am so glad that I found Jeri - we are a perfect fit. She has many happy mama patients and *many* of us go back to her!

If you're thinking of working with a midwife, make an appt with her to see if her style and personality will work for you. If not, find another midwife. If you have an uncomplicated pregnancy, midwives are the way to go!

It is difficult for me to imagine that someone had such an intensely bad experience with Jeri. We chose to work with Jeri for the birth of both of our daughters and could not have imagined a better birth experience for either labor & delivery. Jeri was supportive, encouraging, communicative and honest with us throughout both pregnancies. Both births were difficult by hospital standards and Jeri did everything in her power to support us in our plan for as few interventions as necssary. Both times she went above and beyond the call of duty -- being attentive, intuitive and supportive. I was able to deliver both girls naturally, and I am certain that both births would have been more complicated experiences, potentially even c-sections, without Jeri's guidance, control and courage. Both times the labor & delivery nurses were amazed at her knowledge, experience, intuition and time spent with me as I labored. Though we are not planning to have another child, we would most certainly go back to Jeri if we did. Several friends of mine have gone on to have amazing experiences with her as well. As my husband has said many times over -- there is noone who does their job as well, and with as much integrity, as Jeri Zukoski.

Jeri is a caring person and an experienced midwife. A perfect combination when you are giving birth. I have never had such a good experience with any kind of care or service provider. I am astounded by the negative review below. I googled Jeri and saw no negative reviews. Jeri made my dreams of a drug free childbirth come true. Sixteen months ago I gave birth to Max and avoided a c section when Jeri spent 30 minutes with her arm inside of me gently and expertly turning him. My doula cound not stop gushing about her both during and after the birth and was grateful to me for an experience to watch such a pro. Everyone from the nurses to the doula in training kept raving about Jeri. I had so much trust in her that I followed her directions easily, which is what you want when in labor. I had no doubt about her and knew in my heart and soul that she was with me in the here and now and very focused on me and my baby. What more could you want? I will never forget the experience. I would strongly refer her and once you talk to her, judge for yourself if you believe the one negative review or the dozens of positive ones. There is no way this woman would leave another woman hanging in the lurch. It is just not part of her character or her values.

I read the review by Michelle and quite frankly can not imagine the circumstances described. I have known Jeri for many, many years and have had two wonderful little boys with her. She has always had and amazing back up for when she is out of town (more than one, I might ad), and all extremely reliable. I know that 5 days of prodromal labor is difficult, I've seen it happen, but the midwife can't change that for you by sitting with you. You would have greatly benefitted by hiring a doula. May I ask, Michelle, when your child was born? In all the years I have known Jeri, I don't recall her taking a trip to Oregon. Jeri is an amazing midwife who has saved hundreds of women from c-sections and helped them to achieve their birthing dreams. I highly recommend her.

i have seen some good reviews of jeri z. and also bad ones. i think its based on luck if you catch her at a good time then you might have a good experience. my husband and i chose to work with her because we dearly wanted a home birth and we were on medical at the time, wich jeri accepts. she told us that she would be on vacation during my due date but not to worry, i most likely would not go into labor at that time and she had a very capable back up person, who we actually met. of course i went into labor around the time of my due date. jeri was in oregon. i called the back up, who informed me that she was "taking off for mexico, really sorry". so we called jeri. she said she was not coming back. thankfully someother unknown to me midwife offered to help, i but she wouldnt stick around because my labor wasn't progressing. i was having "prodromal labor". i was doing this for five days.

i was terrified and abandoned and laboring away. it took 5 days to get my beautiful daughter born finally at sf general hosp. my midwife jeri zukoski arrived after the event, when her vacation was over. she was FIVE DAYS LATE. i wrote her a letter
after this explaining my deep shock at her lack of care (literal lack
of care) my disapointment and feelings of abandonment. she completely blew me off. she didn't really want to hear about it. needless to say i recieved no post labor care from her.

why is she in this business anyway??? just google her name and you will find others stories of absolute anger and disapointment. i recommend finding someone else to work with. this woman isn't fit to care for other women especially in such powerful, vulnerable moments as birth. she should be stripped of her license.

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my daughters birth happened 12 years ago.
i am truly happy to hear that these other women had positive experiences with jeri. i did not have a positive experience and i have directly spoken with other women who have also had traumatic experiences -jaw dropping stories. i recently took a doula training course, we were asked to share our birth stories. when i shared mine, i omitted jeri's name, and was not surprised when it was guessed that it was she. does this mean she is notorious among her collegues as well?

as of today there are other negative reviews for this midwife on berkeley parents network. actually, there is a brand new review about jeri- it is actually pretty sad. so my point is....
yes, there are GLOWING reports of jeri, but don't turn a blind eye to the other stories. if you are considering working with her, realize that its a bit of a coin toss. good luck!