Meet Adriana Schaufelberger, MD, Women's Care of WI

“What do you think your patients appreciate most about you?”

There was a distinct pause following the relatively standard question, at least when you’re interviewing a physician. A conventional answer was certainly the expectation.

Dr. Adriana Schaufelberger’s answer was anything but.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m funny,” she said. “I try to make things lighter and take any embarrassment out of it. And there’s no shyness here. Tell me what you’re thinking. Out with it. Go for it. And that’s where we’ll both laugh. I think that’s a big thing.”

Thus begins a discussion with the board-certified OB/GYN, someone who truly loves every part of part of her interactions with patients at Women’s Care of Wisconsin.

The ability to connect is clearly a strength of Schaufelberger’s. Her patients feel this in their first visit and understand in short order one of her essential mantras.

“I’m not about rushing. I don’t like to be rushed. I don’t like to rush my patients,” said Schaufelberger. “My routine is to come into the room, sit down, and then . . . we talk. And if you cry, there’s a good chance I’m going to cry with you." 

Schaufelberger loves to talk and is laser focused on chatting about patient care, yet she does sprinkle in the personal: she’s an identical twin, first generation Hispanic, who worked 40 hours a week while taking full credit loads to earn her two degrees.

“I started out in nursing school, getting into Purdue’s nursing program by accident. I didn't apply for it, but I was in. So I took it as an omen,” said Schaufelberger.

She loved everything about nursing (“I was good at it too!”) but a nudge from her mentor put her on a different path. She was told quite simply that she should go to medical school. Her response was perhaps typical of a different era.

“I’m a girl. I can’t be a doctor,” was her reply.

After a sideways glance accompanied by a “Seriously!” and then a more benevolent “Of course you can!”, Schaufelberger set her sights on a new career.

“And when I graduated from med school, my mentor walked me across the stage,” she said.

Schaufelberger veers once more into the personal, acknowledging that she’s obsessed with her children and loves her dog way, way too much. And she talks about her father, a pipe fitter, who when he got injured looked to his daughter to take care of things.

She shifts gears, returning to the topic of her patients, the conversation accompanied by the clatter of pots and pans. The interviewer notes this.

“Oh, I’m multi-tasking. I need to be busy or I don’t do well,” said Schaufelberger. “But as I was saying, I’m old, I’m relatable, I’m not intimidating, I don’t scare people, and maybe that’s why people I don’t know connect with me. Because I can talk to them.”

This segues into a nice little discussion about a shoulder injury that took Schaufelberger out of action for five months.

“All I could think about was seeing my patients,” she said. “I love them all.”

One of the patients who acutely felt the pain of Schaufelberger’s shoulder injury was Morgan Bonnell, who became a patient following a recommendation.

“It was very important to me when I switched that I click with my new provider and feel an immediate sense of trust. Within, oh, about 20 seconds of meeting her, I knew she was incredible,” said Bonnell. “She literally pulled out a piece of paper, we went through every one of my concerns, wrote them down and said, ‘This is our plan for this' and ‘This is our plan for that.’ She was listening. I knew I was in good hands.”

In the eighth month of Bonnell’s pregnancy, Schaufelberger admitted she would not be able to deliver the baby because she needed a procedure to repair her shoulder.

“It was instant tears for me, and she was tearing up too,” said Bonnell. “But she said she was still going to be there for me. And she was true to her word—any time I needed her or her reassurance, she was just a phone call or text away.”

Schaufelberger ends with the importance of a welcoming atmosphere, one with the power to create an immediate connection that can lead to a lifelong bond.

“Okay, I admit that I really want you to like me when you come in. But more significant is that you feel safe and secure, so you can be honest and ask whatever needs asking, and we can be friends.”

She’s also the kind of person who delivers lasagna when someone’s sick.

That speaks volumes, and perhaps explains the ambient kitchen din.

Dr. Adriana Schaufelberger sees patients at Women's Care of Wisconsin locations in Neenah and Waupaca. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Schaufelberger, please call or text 920.729.7105.

Ashley's Journey

The Cotten Family: Zayden, Kyleigh, Ashley & Casey

It’s good to have a plan. Might not work out exactly as envisioned, but that’s life.

Ashley mentioned “the plan” right away.   

“I have a 12-year-old daughter,” Ashley began. “When my husband and I got married, we knew were going to try to have a child together. That was the plan. And since I got pregnant the first time, I just assumed that it was going to be easy the second time.”

But it was not. Frustration with a previous provider (“I didn’t feel welcomed or heard”) led her to Dr. Allison Brubaker.

A fertility specialist at Women’s Care of Wisconsin, Brubaker made an instant connection with Ashley.

“She took the time to understand me and hear my worries, frustrations, and concerns,” said Ashley. “When you're trying to get pregnant, you need your doctor to take that extra time to really listen to what you're saying.”

Ashley would spend the next two years trying to get pregnant, but to no avail. She blamed herself, felt she had somehow done something wrong, could not understand why her body was not doing what it was supposed to do.

“This is a really vulnerable time in your life. And you really need somebody who truly cares and is genuine, who can listen to your story, your thoughts, your concerns and really follow through with a plan to make sure that you’re getting what you need,” said Ashley. “Dr. Brubaker hits all those points.”

Despite the efforts, one day Ashley felt it was time to take a break from the tests, the treatments, and the procedures.

“I just needed some time to figure out what we were going to do,” said Ashley.

Of course, that’s when Ashley got pregnant.

The celebration of the joyous news, coming as it did after so much time and doubt, wouldn’t go according to plan either.

“When I found out I was pregnant, my husband found out the same day that he was positive for COVID,” Ashley said. “I yelled for him to come check the test to see if it was real, but he was in no condition to understand what was actually happening at that moment. We celebrated together a week or so later. We were over-the-moon excited.”

About seven weeks into the pregnancy, Ashley started bleeding.

“I just had this feeling after we worked so hard it was going to be over,” said Ashley. “I called Dr. Brubaker and she just said not to freak out, that I should get to the ER and we’d figure it out.”

And it turned out to be fine. Following the ER visit, Brubaker saw Ashley in clinic the same day to reassure her that things were okay.  

“She paid extra attention to my pregnancy because I was high risk, and she knew that I was overly-paranoid because of the journey that led up to this point.”

Because Ashley couldn’t get her gestational diabetes under control, she ended up on insulin. That resulted in lots of check-ins with Brubaker. At 37 weeks, she couldn’t get her fasting blood sugar under control. Brubaker, said Ashley, looked at her face and could sense that it was time.

“Are you ready to be done?” said Brubaker. 

“Yes!” came the reply.

Ashley went home, packed a bag, and returned. Brubaker delivered a healthy baby boy, Zayden, and their family was complete.

Which was the plan all along.

 

 

Whatever Makes Your Heart Happy: A Mother’s Story

The conversation began playfully, as the response to how things were going now with three children was decidedly mathematical.

“My husband and I are officially outnumbered,” said Melodie.

But then, a quick caveat.

“I will try not to get emotional about my doctor and the relief she brought to a . . . well, just a very stressful experience.”

Melodie took a deep breath, paused, and told her story.

“I started at Women's Care when I was pregnant with my son Camden, who’s four and a half now, and I actually was seeing an OB that left the practice, right around the time that I delivered. It wasn't very long after that I was already looking for another provider at Women’s Care for my second delivery. And so I found Dr. Gass, who delivered my daughter Hannah, my two year old.”

That was March of 2020, the beginning of the pandemic. Hannah’s delivery was fast and the experience positive.

The following year, Melodie was pregnant again. At her ten-week appointment, she had no indication that there wouldn’t be a heartbeat.

“I had two previous pregnancies where I never had an issue. I've never had a miscarriage. I wasn't expecting that being pregnant the third time,” said Melodie. “But in that moment of finding out, Dr. Gass was just so wonderful. She validated in that moment that my family had a loss. And there was going to be this part of me, this future that I saw, that was gone. And that it was okay if I didn't feel okay.”

Melodie said Gass provided options following the loss and let her know that the decision didn’t have to be made right away, that Melodie could think about what she wanted to do.

“She was just so supportive, and she saw me as a person with a whole life, not just an appointment in a time window where she needed to do a task,” said Melodie. “She validated the heartbreak I felt. I wasn’t dismissed with a ‘this is common and you’ll be fine.’ That meant a lot to me.”

That loss, in December 2021, weighed heavily on Melodie, who wasn’t sure when or if she would be ready to try again. But she and her husband felt their family wasn’t quite complete. Soon after, and perhaps even a bit sooner than she had prepared herself for, Melodie got pregnant.

Emotionally, this was a difficult time for Melodie, who said Gass offered something she offers all her patients who have just experienced a loss, to simply come in more frequently in the first trimester for peace of mind.

By week 14, Melodie had taken advantage of enough extra appointments to envision the happy ending, their rainbow baby. A week later Melodie awoke in the middle of the night and assumed she had wet the bed. She was covered in blood.

And her first thought was the realization that this might not be a happy ending at all.

By the time they got to the ER, Melodie was still bleeding. After treatment and testing, she was wheeled back to a room where she and her husband agonizingly waited for the ultrasound tech. Fearing the worst, they received the news: though there was no determination about the bleeding, there was a heartbeat. The baby looked perfect.

Melodie went home, they got the kids to daycare, and then the phone rang.

“It was Dr. Gass’ office, calling me before I could even call them,” Melodie said. “She had been contacted when I was in the ER, she made the recommendation for the medication I received there, and she wanted me in her clinic ASAP.”

Melodie saw her that very morning and made subsequent visits until she could start feeling fetal movement.

“Dr. Gass made room for me on her schedule every single day so that I could come in and see that the baby's heartbeat was still there,” said Melodie. “I trusted her completely, that she was going to do whatever it took. When she delivered our daughter Hannah, it was a positive experience, without problems. The true test of how good your provider is . . . is when it feels like everything's going wrong.”

As the pregnancy continued the bleeding tapered, but there was a significant blood clot at the front of her uterus. And entirely separate from this, there was an anomaly of the baby’s abdomen.

“Every time we cleared a hurdle, something else seemed to snap us back to reality,” said Melodie. 

Adding to this was the fact that Melodie was high risk in multiple categories, which brought additional concerns about delivering early and the health of the baby. Little by little, the anxiety grew.

“But each day and week that ticked by was like a little celebration every time I saw Dr. Gass,” said Melodie. 

On December 6, 2022, Dr. Gass delivered Sophie to the world and placed her on her mother’s chest. Mom, in response, said just three words.

“We did it.”

Specialists in Milwaukee have confirmed that Sophie has a rare congenital malformation of the digestive tract known as an enteric duplication cyst; she’ll need surgery, most likely around her first birthday. 

Following her recent six-week appointment, Melodie said she was still processing it all.

“Dr. Gass always says, ‘Whatever makes your heart happy.’ And she really means it. I don’t know if going in to see her every day was really medically necessary, but doing that was going to make my heart happy, every day knowing that Sophie’s heart was still beating and that we’re one day closer . . . one day closer.”

Melodie closes her story with a profound statement that is both uniquely personal and unconditionally universal.

“I just look at Sophie and can’t even believe she’s here. She’s ours. She’s perfect.”

Jessy's Journey

Jessy reached out to us via Facebook recently about her OB/GYN, Dr. Amanda Reed:

Dr. Reed was fantastic. I was lucky enough to have her deliver all 3 of my babes with c-sections, with the first emergent and being put under general, the 2nd early with a NICU stay, and the 3rd with a rough spinal stick insertion. She brought the calm, each and every time!

Well, call us nosy, but we wanted to hear a little more about Jessy’s three delivery experiences. She was kind enough to oblige. A natural storyteller, Jessy told her tale with genuine emotion and joy. And humor, as Jessy has the ability to look back at very serious moments through a playful lens.

We thought it only fitting to divide the journey into three sections (c-sections would also work here), one each for Ella, Tynlie, and Britta.

#1: Baby Ella

I scheduled my first appointment with Dr. Reed as my OB/GYN to deal with some issues I was having. I found out the day before my appointment that I was pregnant with my first child. So I walked in and told her about the issues that were going on but then added, ‘Oh, and I found out last night I’m pregnant.’

And she just said, ‘Okay, we’re just going to pivot here.’

With all three, the pregnancies were pretty good throughout. At appointments Dr. Reed would say how pleasant I was, and my response was always the same: ‘I really don’t have anything to complain about.’

But with my first, Ella, they had to induce me because my blood pressure spiked. And I was 39 and a half weeks. So at that point, you know, good time, whatever. And things were progressing fine until suddenly they just weren't. The baby got stuck. And it kind of just took a turn within a relatively short amount of time. Then my epidural stopped working, and I wasn't mentally prepared for that. And so panic set in and it kind of just went zero to 60 really fast. And Dr. Reed is like, ‘Time to get the baby out.’ And I was like, okay. I was prepared for a C section. But when they went in for the spinal at that point, whatever they were trying to do wasn't taking and they couldn't get it in. So there I was on the operating table, screaming ‘Can you put me under?’

I remember Dr. Reed was just so calm throughout it all, like, ‘This is what we need to do. If you're okay with it, this is what we're doing.’ And I was yelling, ‘Go ahead! Whatever!’

Next thing I knew I woke up and I had a baby!

I had Ella at 2:43 in the morning. I didn't see Dr. Reed immediately after because it took me awhile to come out of anesthesia. But she did stop in to the hospital the next morning on her way to the clinic. I was so caught off guard because I was still a wreck at that point. She came in and gave me this big hug and said, ‘Last night was a lot, wasn’t it? I just wanted to come in and see how you’re doing today.’

That shows you who Dr. Reed is as a person.

#2: Baby Tynlie

There were a couple of hiccups with Tynlie. She was breech the whole time, which was fine, but there was a little bit of a heart murmur that Dr. Reed noticed midway through, so we went to a fetal specialist, but everything checked out. All things considered, everything went well. Then one day early in my 35th week I thought my water broke in the middle of the night, so I went to the ER but the test results were inconclusive. Pee maybe? Went to work the next day still leaking fluid and not feeling 100%. I had an appointment with Dr. Reed already scheduled that day. She ran more tests but the results were still inconclusive. She did an ultrasound and everything was good with the baby, so I went back to work. Then the leaking became gushing. And my first thought was ‘Here goes the next four weeks of my life. I’m just going to keep peeing.’

This went on for a few days, not consistent, but I just felt something was off. So I called the nurse and told her I thought I needed to go to the ER again. That’s when they got ahold of Dr. Reed, who said I should go. At that point I knew something was wrong and I was getting a bit emotional. But finally we got confirmation: it was amniotic fluid. They asked if I wanted to wait for Dr. Reed to do the c-section and I said yes, as long as it was safe for the baby.

Dr. Reed arrived, we had the c-section, and I got to snuggle with Tynlie before they took her back to the recovery room. An hour or so later (the timing here is fuzzy; lots of throwing up) the nurse came over and said she wanted to take Tynlie to the NICU to get her breathing checked out, which wasn’t sounding good.

Long story short, Tynlie was in the NICU for three weeks. Had breathing issues, the lungs weren’t fully developed, and she had an infection. I mean the whole pregnancy and delivery were fine, and then this happened. But I remember after everything Dr. Reed telling me how important it was that I trusted my instincts.

‘You knew something wasn’t right and you kept calling. That’s what you needed to do, because sometimes things come back inconclusive and we just don’t know.’

And I told her how happy I was that it just wasn’t pee the whole time.

#3: Baby Britta

With the first delivery, I knew I wasn't going to be able to relax my body for Dr. Reed to get the spinal in for her to get Ella out. And I never forgot the pain. Even to this day.

I knew that I really wanted a second baby and everything went so well until the NICU stay, and then that scared me. But I wasn't ready to be fully done having children. Eventually I arrived at the point where I was ready to do this again.

So with my third, it was a planned c-section. Britta was breech for a while—not the whole pregnancy— and one night I had a lot of pain (that was when she flipped), but otherwise there were no issues. Everything went well right through week 39. As Dr. Reed said, all was going swimmingly. And then they went to do the last spinal stick. I was relaxed; I really was. The anesthesiologist was talking me through everything, all was good. But when they put it in, I felt numbness down my leg.

‘Is that normal?’ I said.

Nope.

They did it again. Same result.

And then more times after that. Then came the shaking. The tears. And my mind went right to the less than 1% who end up paralyzed.

But Dr. Reed and her nurses were so, so great. They're like, ‘Okay, just put your hands here on me, take a deep breath, it's okay.’ And they told the anesthesiologist, ‘She just needs a minute.’ And he was wonderful too. I was in the right position and whatnot, but it just wasn’t happening for me. I got more and more anxious, was in more and more pain, and then I started to think, okay, they're gonna put me under, but that’s when they ended up getting it in.

Of course, that’s when my husband came in.

I'm not an emotional person, even pregnant, but I’m crying uncontrollably now, and my husband has absolutely no idea what’s going on. And Dr. Reed in this la,la,la singsong voice says ‘Oh, we’re just getting into position and we’re going to get the baby out.’ Even as I’m sobbing through tears and I’m trying to tell my husband, Dr. Reed comes through, really bringing the calm to a stressful situation. She’s just like ‘Don’t worry Jessy, everything’s fine. Everything is looking great! Oh, here’s a baby girl!’

And this all brings me back to before I was her patient, and I saw Dr. Reed’s website video and she said something along the lines of caring for a woman throughout life, basically from when a woman first needs to see an OB/GYN through menopause, and I remember thinking, oh, this is somebody that’s actually interested in learning who you are as a person and growing with you throughout those years. And that holds true even now. She knows my girls’ names and asks how they are. At Britta’s six-week appointment she gave me the bows for the girls, and they just loved that.

She builds that rapport, that relationship. And I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else.

Meet Allison Brubaker MD, Women's Care of WI

A Women’s Care of Wisconsin fertility specialist, Dr. Allison Brubaker can immediately identify a catalyst and inspiration for her interest in the field.

“My mom was told at one point she wouldn’t be able to have children,” said Brubaker. “I’m one of five she gave birth to.”

After being put in such a position—basically being told there was little to no hope other than to visit an adoption agency—Brubaker’s mother had the strength to persevere. But it’s a situation Brubaker doesn’t want other women to have to endure.

“I don’t want any woman to feel like that,” she said. "When women come to see me, I want them to know that there are options and there is someone to help them."

For Brubaker, helping families become pregnant is just one of the things she loves about being an OB/GYN. She enjoys all areas of obstetrics and has a particular passion for the minimally invasive surgical management of uterine fibroids, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, abnormal uterine bleeding, pelvic organ prolapse, and pelvic pain.

The first in her family to pursue a career in medicine, Brubaker was drawn to surgery and knew whatever specific field she chose would have a surgical component. It wasn’t until late in her rotations that she was involved with labor and delivery; she was hooked immediately.

“I was so empowered when I delivered my first baby,” Brubaker said. “It’s just so exciting.”

Brubaker embraces her role as a women’s healthcare specialist and enjoys the wide variety of patients she sees, from young women experiencing their first gynecology visit to those dealing with post-menopausal issues, as well as providing care to the LGBTQIA+ community.

“I believe strongly in patient-centered care,” said Brubaker. “That means listening to patients, educating them on their treatment options, discussing risks and benefits, and letting them choose what is best for their lifestyle.”

Dr. Allison Brubaker sees patients at Women's Care of Wisconsin locations in Neenah and Oshkosh. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Brubaker, please call or text 920.729.7105.

Pelvic Organ Prolapse—What is it?

Pelvic organ prolapse is a disorder in which the pelvic floor muscles stretch, weaken, or become torn causing one or more of the pelvic organs to drop from their normal position. This can occur due to factors such as pregnancy, vaginal childbirth, advancing age, excess weight or chronic constipation and straining a stool. Approximately 5% of women develop prolapse; women in their sixties have the highest incidence of the dysfunction.

• The organs that can be affected include the following:
• Uterus (uterus drops into the vagina)
• Vagina (the walls of the vagina fall in on themselves if the uterus has been removed)
• Bladder (the bladder sags into the vagina)
• Rectum (the rectum bulges into the vagina)
• Small Intestines (the small intestine bulges into the vagina)

In severe prolapse, the woman can see or feel a bulge of tissue at or past the vaginal opening. Most women have mild prolapse, with only a slight dropping of organs and no symptoms. Symptoms of pelvic prolapse can include some or all of the following:

• Feeling of fullness, heaviness or pressure
• Pulling or aching feeling in the lower abdomen or pelvis
• Difficulty urinating or having a bowel movement
• Urine leakage when coughing or using stairs
• Painful or uncomfortable sexual intercourse

If you have symptoms, prolapse may be treated with or without surgery. The goal of treatment is to relieve your symptoms. Your healthcare provider can discuss your treatment options with you. These may depend on several factors, including the nature of your problems, your lifestyle, and your wishes. You may have both surgical and nonsurgical options.

In many cases, nonsurgical treatment is a good choice. This may be true if your pelvic organ prolapse is mild or doesn’t bother you much. To help ease symptoms, your provider may give you a device to wear in the vagina (pessary) or instruct you on pelvic floor exercises.

If your symptoms are severe and disrupt your life, and if nonsurgical options have not helped, you may want to consider surgery. Each type of prolapse is corrected in a specific way, with either open surgery or laparoscopy. Your healthcare provider will discuss which route is best for you.

The providers at Women’s Care of Wisconsin are devoted to you and your health. That means having the most advanced techniques, up-to-date educational information and a compassionate, caring staff. Our providers offer a well-rounded approach to your OB/GYN care, one that meets both your physical and emotional needs throughout every phase of your life. We call it our Circle of Care. From adolescence through menopause and beyond, you can depend on us. Meet our providers and learn more about gynecology, pregnancy care, infertility, procedures and surgery, incontinence, osteoporosis, menopause and more at www.womenscareofwi.com. Or call or text us at 920.729.7105.

Meet Gretchen Augustine DO, Women's Care of WI

“Pretty much every visit I have with a patient starts the same way,” said Gretchen Augustine. “I ask them to tell me in their own words, in their own time, why they are here.”

Perhaps that’s why the Women’s Care of Wisconsin OB/GYN develops such a strong connection with them.

“Those first minutes in a first appointment are crucial,” said Augustine. “My patients know their bodies better than anyone else, so I provide them the time, opportunity and space to share what they’ve been through. Details they provide can be very powerful.”

The Michigan native actually started her career in journalism. Her decision to follow a very different path was rooted in being able to connect with people at a deeper level. She returned to school to pursue a degree in osteopathic medicine. That means she’s trained exactly as an MD, but with additional training in manipulative medicine.

“An osteopath is trained to view the patient holistically, to take care of the patient’s mind, body and spirit,” Augustine said. “It’s about finding and treating the root causes of issues rather than simply assigning a medicine to fix a problem.”

A staunch advocate for patient empowerment, Augustine insists that the education of those she serves be a top priority in her practice.

“It’s important patients understand the best options available to them,” said Augustine. “And they need to be comfortable with the treatment and have confidence that it is right for them and that it will be successful.”

Fundamental to women’s medicine, said Augustine, is developing relationships.

“We take care of women throughout the spectrum of their lives, and those of us in the field embrace that role,” she said.

Her patients describe Augustine as genuine, kind, astute, supportive, and funny.

“I laugh with my patients a lot, and I think that’s important,” said Augustine. “Most important of all, though, is that my patients feel heard and know that we’ll be working together on a plan to get them to where they want to be.”

Dr. Gretchen Augustine sees patients at Women's Care of Wisconsin locations in Appleton and Shawano. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Augustine, please call or text 920.729.7105.