why a birth centre?

Joyce - posted on 02/11/2009

Quoting Becky:

why a birth centre?

I think midwives and birth centres are such an excellent option and should be available to every pregnant woman. Why did you choose to use a midwife and birth centre? How was your experience, and would you deliver the same way again or do something different?

I felt that a midwife would have the expertise to help me labor naturally.  My midwife had delivered 700 babies prior to delivering mine.  She was highly skilled in EVERY aspect of childbirth, from monitoring the baby's vital signs to checking my labor progress to suggesting different laboring positions when I wasn't progressing to stitching up my vaginal tears and really supported my physical and emotional needs.  It was more like having an experienced older sister take you through the process of birthing.  Also, I LOVED the fact that she came to my home multiple times postpartum to check on me and the baby.  This meant that I didn't have to go anywhere for checkups in a doctor's office; I could rest and recover instead.  I chose a birth center for its beautiful, peaceful atmosphere.  For me, going to the birth center was so special--it was more like going to a luxury hotel room than anything else---it was so private and beautifully decorated, and had a gigantic bathtub and queen size bed, not to mention birthing stools, a birthing ball and a cd player.  It seemed to me the opposite of going to a hospital environment, which is, I think, is quite a frightening place to go.  Not to say that I wouldn't be thankful to be admitted to a hospital if things went wrong with my labor.  In fact, my birth center was only 5 minutes away from the hospital, and that helped put my mind at ease and gave me the confidence to make the choice that was right for me.

Jenna - posted on 01/31/2009

I chose to use a midwife and birth center for both my children's deliveries. Honestly, I knew exactly what kind of labor and birth experience I wanted and I knew a birth center would be the easiest place to get that, since I found midwives who were in line with my mindset. I wanted to have freedom during labor. Freedom to move how I wanted, feel how I wanted, without being told by some hospital staff what they thought was best for me. I also have several really supportive women in my family who had given birth naturally, so I was raised knowing it was something I would be able to do and wanted to do. I also knew it would be best for my baby physically, emotionally, and intellectually, if he was born naturally without any substances entering his system that shouldn't be there.
I had wonderful birth center and midwife experiences! I did a birth center for my first and second pregnancies, and will do one for my third as well.