Dr. Micca Kathleen Donohue, MD

Excellent care--an inviting and encouraging manner. I would definitely recommend her!

Excellent care--an inviting and encouraging manner. I would definitely recommend her!

If you have hormonal difficulties - particularly low progesterone - during pregnancy, do not see this woman or anyone else at Gundersen. With my first pregnancy with them, I was put on progesterone at 4 weeks. At 7 weeks for my baseline draw, was told to not take meds for 24 hours before blood draw. Took a suppository in my car right after, but by that night was heavily spotting. Have never, ever spotted before in my life. My dose was upped to 3 a day because draw was so low. At 10 weeks, I was told I needed to wean off because the placenta kicked in. Weaned to two and then 1. On first afternoon after 1 pill, began spotting. Called in because was concerned and was told this was normal and I should not go back to more pills a day. 24 hours later I miscarried. My husband, our baby, and I were tested for everything from autoimmune to genetics to mutations. All came back negative, so Dr. Donahue said was due to an undetected defect in baby. That answer just didn't sit well with me. I have a background in science and can read medical journals easily as long as I have a medical dictionary to define some of the obscure terms. My research in journals and my efforts to contact other drs led me to wonder if, for some reason, the placenta was not making enough progesterone and/or hormonal abnormalities were essentially 'cancelling out' what the placenta made. When I got pregnant again, I was on progesterone. Each time I had a progesterone draw, I didn't stop meds beforehand but my levels kept dropping. They should either stay the same or go up slightly each time. When I asked about this, because it went against everything I had read, I was told I was being anxious and that the placenta was kicking in. Baby made progesterone can't be tested, but any excess I took is flushed out, so the numbers go down. I was allowed to go until 13 weeks before weaning sue to my 'anxiety' a.k.a. asking too many questions. I had been on only 2 pills a day this time, and 6.5 hours after not taking the first pill I started heavily spotting. I called office and asked for a progesterone test or appointment or whatever. I was told I was worrying for nothing, don't take more than one pull a day, this is normal, and that I could get in for an appointment 3 days later with some dr I had never seen because my dr was booked all week. He would listen for a heartbeat and examine my cervix to see if still closed because the baby obviously had a defect that was causing spotting. I just found this all too convenient. I popped in 2 pills during the next 5 hours and started to call around to other drs to see if any ever did second trimester progesterone supplementation. Found one that did if needed at the 'competion' (Mayo), but would test me first to see if needed or was baby. Even though i was not her patient, she scheduled me at the end of the same day because "unless you normally spot between periods, spotting in pregnancy is NOT normal". Come to find out, baby's placenta progesterone DOES show up in regular blood test and at 13 weeks should be 19-57. My level was 15 that day. If I had not popped the 2 suppositories in the 5 hours I was on phone calling all the ob drs in the area, I would have likely lost the baby during that time. In the weeks that have followed, my baby is healthy, active, and growing right on track. My progesterone dose is 2.5 times higher than it was and I will take it through 37 weeks. Dr. Donahue and her other colleges at Gundersen (all 22 plus Dr Ryan, Salih, and Baudek in Fertility) told me I was nuts and looking into 'quack' science. Considering this technology has been used since the late '90s in most U.S. clinics, it is about time they get a clue and join this century. While everyone there was always very kind and the place is nice, clean, and pretty, the ambiance does not make up for the lack of innovation in their diagnostic efforts.