by Smart Coos Editorial Details

Are you considering giving birth in a birthing center? Don’t worry, you are not alone. According to The American Association of Birthing Centers, “In the US, 0.3% of births take place in birth centers, where nurse-midwives and midwives provide most of the care.” Also, “Out of the 15,574 women who planned to give birth at the birth center at the start of labor, most women (84%) ended up giving birth at the birth center. Out of the entire sample, 4.5% were referred to a hospital before being admitted to the birth center, 11.9% transferred to the hospital during labor, 2.0% transferred after giving birth, and 2.2% had their babies transferred after birth.”

We know that giving birth in a birthing center can be a very important decision for any mom out there. There are a lot of things to keep in mind, like being eligible as a woman with a low-risk pregnancy. 3 moms came by to share their experiences and thoughts:

The lucky sister

Tammi Van Hollander is a mom of two children (now 15 and 12). She was first determined to have a water birth. She was with a gynecologist for 6 months of the pregnancy, but decided to leave the doctor. She explains, “My doctor pushed meds on me and very clearly stated that I was making the worst the decision by leaving him and going to the birth center.” She says that she was in a Jacuzzi during Labor Day. She describes the experiences saying, “Having back pains, the Jacuzzi made pain more intense. I did use a squatting chair that was pretty cool. I went home 6 hours later feeling wonderful!”

Tammi claims to be the luckiest of 3 sisters. She was able to have two successful experiences in an alternative route. Nevertheless, her two sisters didn’t share the same luck. One of them tried to have two of her children in a birthing center but needed to get to the hospital with emergency C-sections. The other sister had a home birth and her son was rushed to the hospital and almost died due to swallowing meconium.

Hospital birth VS birth center

Petrina Ham experienced a hospital birth with her first son in 1998 and a birthing center one in 2008. She compares the two experiences claiming that they felt like night and day. She personally felt more comfortable going to a birthing center. She explains, “I felt worlds more in control and comfortable with the birth center experience and would recommend it for anyone who doesn’t have a high-risk pregnancy necessitating hospital birth.”

High-risk women

Jasmine Kaloudis explains her will to go into labor in a birth center. Nevertheless, her recent diagnosis of gestational diabetes might impede upon her admittance in this alternative route, since they only admit low risk women. She states, “A high percentage of women risk rejection from using birth centers for various reasons: breech, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc”.

Contributed to by Graziella Gandolfi

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Sources:

http://www.birthcenters.org/research