Wow…some people on here so “highly educated” and others who play the blame game..
Here’s my story, first delivery at 18 in a military hospital, WORST experience of my life…
My 25th birthday the last time I ever heard my baby’s heartbeat…my ob from cmmc commented:her hearts a little fast..he had his vacation shirt on under his white cow and I was his last appointment..I was in and out within 10 minutes..turns out cord was around her neck and I lost her at 33 weeks..next two pregnancies extremely traumatic, afraid, induced early and still went to the same ob, in fact same dr.. then I got pregnant unexpectedly a third time only my view on the medical system was different..you see my first two children now 15 and 6 went to a pediatrician, went to every wellness visit, got every vaccine on schedule and suffered with pneumonia, bronchitis, acid reflux, ear infections, tons of antibiotics, medications, even a nebulizer all before a year old…both then have gone on to suffer complications from “Lyme” thankfully they were atleast breastfeeding.
My third baby..I was told to give him formula because he wasn’t peeing as much as he should at a few days old..he only breastfed for 4 months..at his routine 4 month appointment I had a feeling in my gut I didn’t want to vaccinate him that day and when the pediatrician came in I told her..she was actually nice and said it’s up to you, your his mom I personally only get one round of rotavirus for my kids. I disregarded what my gut was telling me and told her “well I’m here, not sure why I feel that way..let’s just get them done” my child suffered horribly, only this time I physically saw..it wasn’t just constant sickness my pediatricians always had an excuse for. I did research, I thought of my two kids being so sick…he never got another poke.
Then I got pregnant again..I knew I wanted a homebirth but was still seeing my same ob…my last appointment was 35 weeks, I simply never went back and they finally called me in December, my baby was 3 months old..better late than never I guess..I did not have Sarah but I did have a naturopath and homebirth, my first appointment she gave me magnesium for the Charlie horses I suffered with every pregnancy that for some reason my ob couldn’t help me with…I never suffered again, i had a homebirth..7 hour quick labor, NO MEDICAL INTERVENTION..and experienced fetal ejection reflux! So nice being home and them coming to me, I healed so much faster…that boy is 2.5 in mud naked over half his life, and has never been on antibiotics…he’s never had more than a little fever and congestion..
So with me, my first two I was naive, they are currently being treated homeopathically to help their bodies heal to all the toxins they have been exposed to…I also have a homeopathic dr in Europe who is amazing.
Pregnant with number 5..the day I called the office I was in for blood work and had an appointment for an ultrasound to see how far along I was since my periods had been off…I ended up being 6 weeks..
I’m currently 31 weeks, I’ve only seen her the amount of times any woman sees their ob by 31 weeks..she listens to my concerns, after 17 years of hypothyroidism I’m finally tested for Hashimoto’s..
planning my second homebirth for June.

Education, intelligence, and experience are all very different..I could blame my dr for not looking into why my daughters heart rate was high and saw me 10 minutes and out the door I was..I could blame the pediatricians who were trained in this new practice of medicine and believe what they are taught without actual hands on research..for how terribly sick my kids were..
Instead I’ve researched, researched isn’t even the word.
My children and myself are healing and my husband is next.
To come on here and write comments because your so “highly educated” and u saw A patient supposedly..things happen, tragedy, every single day..or because u are emotional from a tragic experience and want to blame someone..know there’s someone out there who was is mainstream ob care that resulted in stillbirth after her dr commented on the high heart rate and last you would ever hear which happened to be on your birthday.

I look forward to my homebirth with Sarah

Submitted April 25, 2023

How many more babies does she need to kill or cause harm to for people to stop going to her!?! She does not know what she is doing! Please don't put your life or your children's lives at risk with this horrible woman! There are so many wonderful, caring and skilled real midwives out there.... Sarah is not one of them!! Run!!!

Submitted March 31, 2023

I have been a nurse in multiple capacities for over 20 years and have cringed every time I hear that one of "doctor" Ackerly's clients is coming to our hospital; not because I don't like to take care of patients, but because she creates a terrible mess that causes unjust harm and even death to patients. This woman scares me. I've had to "defend" my actions when she's accompanied a patient into the hospital to the point I have had to ask her to leave as she interferes with our ability to safely take care of the patient. I've had patients arrive with horrible infections related to her inability to judge when it is time to seek hospital care and abandon the idea of a safe home birth. I am not anti-home birth, I am just anti-"Doctor" Ackerly. She has misguided many patients and what is super concerning, is her arrogant way of introducing herself as "Doctor Ackerly". She is a naturopathic doctor and I believe this to be highly misleading.

I've butted heads with numerous parents regarding advice she has given to them regarding their children's lack of immunizations as well as the need for "Keto" and other dietary changes in young children. A young child on a keto diet feels like a lifelong eating struggle to me, but maybe I'm the one who needs to be educated?

If you can avoid this woman, please, do so and choose a safe low intervention hospital birth or a birthing center or another careful, trusted provider for a truly safe and wonderful homebirth. Choose a provider who has your best interest at heart. Choose a provider and birthing facility where they have the skill and up to date education to treat and recognize problems ahead of the horrible outcomes she has caused her clients to experience. It is heartbreaking to think of the needless heartbreak families have experienced at her careless hands.

One last parting comment: autism is not caused by vaccines. This was disproven and that provider lost his license many years ago. Providers, such as "doctor" Ackerly who continue to push this agenda and misguide and misinform parents should also lose their ability to "practice" in whatever form it is. We shouldn't be misguiding families and writing fake exemptions. It is unethical and wrong. You are the reason the law went into place that has almost zero flexibility in parent choice. I do not agree with vaccine mandates, but until "doctors" who push their agendas stop "practicing", this is where it stands. Be safe families. There are plenty of skilled providers out there who will provide factual, safe care with your family in mind.

(I've never been to this office, I've only dealt with this person as I indicated in my comment, but we are not able to rate without all stars complete, therefore I assume it is all 1 star or less so that is why I rated staff and punctuality--I don't actually know about this and felt it was my duty to be honest in this rating)

Submitted Jan. 4, 2022

Dr. Sarah delivered my fourth child (my first homebirth) and I have nothing but good to say of her knowledge, helpfulness and skill. When comparing with my previous experience, I was happily surprised to have so much time at each appointment to address my concerns. I was SO pleased to know ahead of time who would be delivering my child as I had previously used an office with multiple doctors. I felt like I learned more about my body and the birthing process than I had known before even after having already given birth 3 times. I felt like a person instead of a number and loved having the same person there through the whole process. She has been very helpful when 2 of my family had Lyme disease, we also had a child with anemia and another with skin rashes. I appreciate her whole body approach to health and have and will continue to highly recommend her.

Submitted Dec. 10, 2021

Amazing and knowledgeable about so much especially risks involved in vaccinating babies! Healthiest pregnancy I’ve had was under her care! She had me eat a low carb diet and I gained the least amount of weight and had so much energy! Best and fastest delivery too…I’m very sad I didn’t have her care with my three previous!

Submitted Nov. 2, 2021

I have worked as a L&D and Postpartum RN for thirteen years in two different hospitals. I have personally taken care of two mothers who lost their precious babies while under the care of this woman. I still think about the overwhelming grief and sadness that I experienced second hand while caring for these poor families. I am not exaggerating when I say Sarah's name is known and dreaded by maternity staff by both hospitals I worked for. I am not against home birth, birth center births, low intervention hospital births, etc. I believe that women should have autonomy in making decisions on how they want to give birth. Please just be aware that regulations in the US are lacking in who can call themselves a midwife. Nurse Midwives are a great options since there are set clinical and educational requirements for them to be licensed (also many were maternity nurses too). Stay safe soon-to-be Mamas :-)

Submitted Feb. 16, 2021

Sarah was fixated on my weight during the middle of my pregnancy, even though I had started my pregnancy with a very low BMI and was still well within the healthy range for my height. She strongly recommended I start a keto diet which is overwhelming considering unsafe for pregnant ppl and their babies. This would have been doubly true for me since I have a restricted diet. In short, she made me feel terrible and insecure about my body during a very vulnerable time. She also acted elevated about the results of my blood panel at this time (iron, D3, and my thyroid levels which she insisted I test despite never having an issue). She made it sound imperative that I buy supplements from her. This made me very worried till I got a second opinion from another midwife who said everything was at normal levels- apparently Sarah uses some other metric. Finally, we found her bedside manner to be really lacking. She was hyper focused on the spectrum of horrific health outcomes for our baby if I didn’t do this or that, or have this or that tested. Informed consent is one thing, but she made us feel nervous and scared, despite my healthy, low-risk pregnancy. These things alone made me lose confidence and a feeling of safety with her- then I learned she was anti-vaccination (she peddles the myth that autism is caused by vaccines). This is when we knew we needed a different provider. Unfortunately, her office is terribly managed, which I really think is more on account of Sarah’s manic way of working. Her staff seems helpless to wrangle her, but I was extremely frustrated by how long it took to have calls returned, paperwork and refund sent. After having my baby in a hospital, I shared my experiences with Sarah with a number of nurses/midwives/LC, and was shocked by how many of them told me I had dodged a bullet by opting not to continue working with her. And this is not just because they’re anti-homebirth- many of them are not and some had positive things to say about Tiffany Carter Skillings. There have been really awful things happen to birthing ppl and their babies at Sarah’s hands. Alas, I learned this too late and settled on the hospital- and yes, there is a whole different set of risks in a hospital setting. But for those seeking a homebirth or birth outside the hospital: keep looking. There are several different folks serving the midcoast area. The danger of working with Sarah feels like a secret in this area, but- my god-pregnant ppl and their babies deserve to know.

Submitted Jan. 24, 2021

Only doctors office my family will go to. Dr. Ackrely goes above and beyond to take care of my family’s health needs.

Submitted Aug. 8, 2020

Have worked as an RN in OB for 32 years. Have seen multiple train wrecks that have been the direct result of Sarah Ackerly's negligence. I've seen multiple neonatal deaths that would have been completely preventable had Sarah intervened in a timely and educated manner. It is completely shocking to me that women still see her for prenatal care and birthing. She is NOT a licensed MD. Many attempts have been made to take away her license to practice, but she HAS no license. Please if you are considering seeing Sarah Ackerly do your homework. She has a very high infant mortality rate. Every time we get a new patient of hers I cringe knowing we are going to be dealing with another nightmare outcome. There are many options for low to no intervention births. Do not take a chance with Sarah Ackerly.

Submitted June 23, 2020

I saw this naturopathic practitioner when I was younger and more naive regarding being swindled. She put me on a 500 calorie/day, hyper-restrictive diet (and never screened me for an eating disorder before instructing this), had me inject hormones imported from overseas, and sold me what was essentially a bunch of loose tea, for the grand total of around $900. Can't believe I was ever so naive but this is how you get taken advantage of by a non-medical practitioner pretending to be a doctor.

Submitted Feb. 8, 2020