Birthing Options: The Birthing Center

I talked a little bit about hospital birth in the last installment, so now it’s time to discuss another option - giving birth at an efficient, home-style “Birthing Center” attended by licensed midwives and with a physician or two as partners on call.

Again, it’s vitally important for a mother-to-be to receive frequent and committed prenatal care from a doctor or midwife trained to spot potential problems before they get too far along. It’s also important for expectant parents to commit themselves to a proven birth educational program, and I have recommended the one I am most familiar with - The Bradley System.

If the pregnancy is developing normally and the mother is healthy and fit and confident of what she wants for herself and her baby as far as a birthing experience goes, it’s time to do some research on birthing centers near home and make some appointments to tour facilities and question staff.

If the parents have already chosen a midwife or midwifery group to provide prenatal care, they no doubt already have a list of birthing centers where those midwives are associated. Maybe even met a doctor who partners with the center. If not, there are resources on the web to help with the search.

The Online Birth Center offers a large collection of articles related to all things of concern to expectant and new parents. There is educational information about midwifery so you can better evaluate those you meet, a careful evaluation of common herbs your midwife might suggest you take and how those may affect you and your baby, even some newsgroups and forums where you can connect with other expectant mothers and couples for friendship, advice and some sympathetic eyes.

The American Pregnancy Association offers a fine list of questions to ask when you’re visiting birthing centers in your area. This is very valuable information, such as what you should expect from any birthing center to even consider it for your own experience:

• A relaxed and warm setting.
• Liberty to return home shortly after birth if you wish.
• Health care providers that include nurse-midwives, direct-entry midwives and/or nurses working with a listed, board certified obstetrician.

And to this add the proximity to a hospital, either attached or affiliated, just in case. The site also offers links to educational material and articles about planning and preparing for birth, fetal development, multiples, labor and birth, health and safety issues, prenatal testing, complications and birth control options. A very good source of information and useful methodology for choosing just the right birthing center.

Finally, the American Association of Birth Centers offers a mission statement, a list of frequently asked questions, tips on finding an association center near you, a well-stocked library and bookstore, and lots of educational material.

Unless something goes wrong - and potential problems are not always apparent before labor begins - birthing centers have a good record of helping to improve the mortality statistics in this country over what they were when most births occurred in hospitals or at home unattended. The welcome presence and encouraged participation of family members in a home-like atmosphere makes the experience more pleasant for everyone involved, and one of the best things a mother can do to help ensure a healthy birth is to avoid drugs either to rush her labor or those to treat her pain that go straight into the baby’s system and depress normal responses at birth.

Birthing centers aren’t cheap, thus will not be an option for everyone. They are worth investigating as an option, and couples will feel much better all around about their choices if they’ve done the homework!

Links:

American Association of Birth Centers

Online Birth Center

American Pregnancy Association

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Filed under Prenatal Care, Birthing, Family Planning, Pregnancy |