With my daughter’s first birthday coming up I’ve been thinking a lot about the birth center where I delivered her. I’ve had several people ask me what it was like to deliver my baby there rather than at a hospital and I tell them all the same thing – it was a wonderful experience and would recommend anyone to have their babies there.
When I first thought about having my baby at the Birth Center it was strictly based on finances; we did not have health insurance and therefore would be paying for this out of pocket. For a normal delivery at a hospital the average cost is around $10,000 and the birth center was right at $4,000 (this was with a discount for paying it all up front). It didn’t take long to figure out that I would deliver my baby there even if I had the best insurance offered because it was so wonderful.
The only real experience I had with a traditional OBGYN office was through my sister. I went with her to a few of her first appointments and we waited so long to be seen and the doctor was very “doctor like”, not the least bit personal. At the Birth Center I can only remember one time I waited at it was for a max of 10 minutes and it was only because someone had JUST delivered their baby. The midwives and nurses were very personable and got to know you on a one on one basis. They did not mind how many people came with you to your appointments and classes – they encouraged as much support as you can get.
The Birth Center had classes each month for me to take ranging from taking care of myself to delivery and caring for a newborn whereas my sister did not take any classes – granted since one of her babies was breached she would have a c-section rather than a natural delivery and this may have been a reason she did not take a birthing class.
The midwives are very encouraging regarding waiting your baby out. A baby is considered full term at 36 weeks and are mostly born around 40 weeks. With a doctor they are more willing to force the baby out by inducing before the baby is ready (which is one of the reasons c-section rates are so high) whereas the midwife will do more natural things to help jump start labor after 41 weeks (they won’t let you go past 42 weeks for risk of the baby). Doctors want to induce or encourage women to have a c-section to ensure they don’t have a big baby, whereas the midwives encourage “big babies” – they are easier to push out. My mother delivered me and my sister with no problem and we were both over 10 pounds. Midwives empower women – giving birth is one of the most natural things in the world – why couldn’t we deliver a big baby.
When comes to labor, in a hospital you are limited to staying in your bed where you are hooked up to monitors and cannot eat in case you have to have a c-section whereas at the birth center you are free to roam, get into the tub, eat whatever you want and have anyone and everyone in the room with you. Normally hospitals only allow a maximum of two people in the room with you when you deliver. The Birth Center is set up as close as they can to home so there is little to no intimidation. Labor can be a easy or as hard as you think it is going to be – if your mind is right and you go in thinking the best then it will be a lot better than going in scared and tense. While they do have drugs to help with pain they don’t offer it to you – you have to ask for it. Hospitals start offering drugs as soon as you walk through the door. I for one did not want an epidural (the birth center does not offer an epidural anyway)– the idea of a giant needle being placed in my back gave me the creeps and I’ve heard so many stories from women who had them that wished they didn’t get them because of the side effects they had because of it.
When delivering my daughter I opted not to have pain medication and did it completely natural. Yes it was painful but I handled it just fine and feel stronger knowing that I did it naturally – kind of like a badge of courage. I was confident in the Midwives ability to keep me and my baby safe during the delivery and had there been a problem we were only 8 minutes from the nearest hospital. The midwives know when there is a need to go to the hospital and will not risk a mother or babies life.
Another thing that I loved about the Midwives is they did not take my baby away. In the hospitals they take the babies to the nursery to run tests and to warm them up among other things; well the Midwives performed all the tests they needed to on the bed next to me and only took her long enough to weigh her while I was being cleaned up and it was only for a max of five minutes. This was my little baby and I worked so hard to deliver her and I didn’t want her to be out of my sight let alone gone for hours while nurses left them in their little bassinets while they checked on other babies. A lot of the downfalls of hospitals are because they are liability scared and too busy – thus a benefit of a smaller birthing center. You get that attention you deserve and are not just a number. Having a baby is special and precious and the Birth Center makes sure you have that experience.
For more information on the Birth Center visit their website.
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