Sally Lang, CNM

The best, I repeat, the best midwife I could have found.
I gave birth 8 days ago at Scripps Encinitas and Sally has been there for me these 9 months. From my very first prenatal visit, Sally has been ever smiling and the experience has always been pleasant. She answered all our questions patiently, every single visit, and let me tell you, my husband asks an awful lot of questions.
I was having issues with putting on weight during my pregnancy and she helped me resolve the issue with her guided expertise. She has pleasant manners and her staff and nurses have been a great support too.
If she was on her weekly off on the days I called the office with queries and concerns, she always made sure to call me back to check on me the very next day even though the queries were always answered the same day by other midwives or nurses on duty.
On the day of my delivery, she was encouraging, calm and patient throughout my 1.5hrs of pushing and helped me have a vaginal delivery.
If you get Sally as your midwife, I can bet you are in safe hands.
Also, Sally’s «Hello you guys, how are we doing today?» will ring in my ears for years to come because that greeting instantly can calm a nervous pregnant woman.

I met Sally Lang after calling Scripps Encintas OB group in September 2013 to make an appointment with a particular physician with expertise in high-​risk pregnancies. Despite identifying my pregnancy as high-​risk and requesting a physician, at my first visit I found that Scripps had, without mentioning it, assigned my care to a nurse midwife, Sally. I chose mid-​wife care for my first two pregnancies and highly recommend them… for low-​risk pregnancies. I was not seen by a physician at Scripps until November 2013, two days after I picked up my babies cremated remains.
(Disclaimer: Having worked in health care, I know that apparently uncaring or incompetent care may actually be a decent provider pushed to see too many patients or those beyond their training. This may be the case with Sally.)
From the first visit I said I believed I likely had cervical insufficiency/​incompetence (I am a physician myself, not an ob/​gyn). Sally took no steps to address this concern. As my pregnancy progressed, I called for an extra appointment because I was afraid my cervix was opening. I was told I could not make an appointment without running it by a clinician first. I waited home the rest of the day for the promised call, but it never came. I called again the next morning and was told that they had my message, but it hadn’t been answered. I received a call later that lab work (a CBC/​UA) was ordered. I stated that to the best of my knowledge a CBC would not show if my cervix was opening, and pushed to have it measured. Scripps did work me in for an appointment, and I was told my cervix was fine. I continued to express concern and Sally said she could measure my cervix every 2 weeks. I was reassured — I should not have been. Scripps own perinatalogist told me later that he had seen patients with CI with normal cervical measurements during the day and dilatation to the point of fetal loss by evening that the same day,. Sally didn’t bother to mention this limitation (if she knew of it), or any other possible treatments for CI, or tell me of the signs/​symptoms of an opening cervix. She did tell me I was fine to travel, and I thought a couple days after a normal measurement was a good time for a business trip I had to make.
About the second day of the trip, I experienced every pregnant woman’s nightmare –my amniotic sac was falling out of me when the baby was too young to survive. I rushed to the hospital, and found that my cervix had opened — just as I had feared. Because I had traveled, by husband had to spend thousands on airfare to rush himself (and our other children) to try and hold his baby girl before her heart stopped, but he arrived too late. In addition, this was an IVF pregnancy, costing additional thousands, numerous appointments, terrible side effects and 176 shots (I counted). All lost. Sadly, this pregnancy could have been saved. The OB/​GYN in the East Coast hospital asked me why with my prior loss I had declined cerclage (a stitch to keep a cervix closed which can allow up to 90% of CI patients to deliver full term) with this one. I replied I had never been offered one. Another nurse said the baby’s loss was a tragedy, as she had seen so many mom’s with CI deliver healthy babies with proper care (progesterone, indomethacin, bed rest, close monitoring, pessary, cerclage, etc). None of these options were mentioned at the Scripps Encinitas clinic despite me brining up my concern of CI multiple times.
After the baby’s death, I called the receptionist in January 2014 and asked anonymously if high-​risk patients would be cared for by an OB or a nurse. She cheerfully said that of course a high-​risk patient would be seen by physicians, although she might see a midwife on the first visit. If only the staff had been honest about their physician availability when I first called, I believe there is a better chance than not that my baby would be alive now.
Sally was polite and personable and likely provides good care to routine pregnancies (i.e. those that would be fine with no care at all). But she seemed unable to deviate from that. The night before my membranes prolapsed, another nurse called me to state that my first trimester screening was positive for Trisomy 18 due to my age. I replied that since I was using a donor egg and had full preimplantation testing, that this positive results was essentially meaningless, right? The nurse agreed. After the call I decided that when I got back I would switch to another provider that could individualize care. I didn’t know then it was already too late.

Until this year, the word «midwife» conjured up thoughts of home-​births and natural remedies… old women coming out to your house in the middle of nowhere and helping you birth your 10^th child on the dusty wooden floors of your cabin. Call me ignorant, but I had no idea that midwives work in hospitals too, alongside doctors, and are capable of doing pretty much everything a doctor can do (aside from a c-​section).
I happened to see Sally at my first visit after discovering I was pregnant because Scripps Coastal OBGYN always books a patient’s first visit with a midwife instead of a doctor. Sally spent a TON of time with me that day, answering all my questions and showing me a level of care and patience that I’d never received from a doctor before. I chose to see Sally going forward instead of one of the doctors and it was a GREAT decision.
Scripps Coastal OBGYN requires that you do see a doctor once every trimester, so I had a good comparison between appointments with Sally and appointments with a doctor. They were entirely different. Doctors are rushed. They see more patients, have less time, and don’t really care too much to get to know you. Sally was the complete opposite. She never rushed our appointments and really seemed to care about me as an individual.
At delivery, it seems typical for doctors to let nurses do all the work and pretty much just stop by to catch the baby, but Sally was with me for at least the last hour of me pushing. She was encouraging, calm, and patient. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience! After delivery, she stopped by my hospital room on three different occasions to check in on me.
I simply can’t say enough good things about Sally Lang. If you are considering Scripps OBGYN for your pregnancy and birth, I highly recommend that you make an appointment with her before you decide to go with one of the doctors.