Is a birth center right for you? What are the benefits of a birth center? A birth center is an alternative way to care for and deliver your child. Recently, birthing centers have risen in popularity as they offer a more relaxed and natural way to give birth.
What is a birth center?
A birth center is a free-standing, homelike facility designed in the midwifery and wellness model of pregnancy and birth. A birth center offers several amenities to help you during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. You can get personalized midwifery care at the birth center or in your home from licensed professionals.
Many centers have doulas who can provide emotional and physical support for your childbirth. After you deliver, you can get tips and assistance to help you on your journey as a new parent from lactation consultants and parenting education courses.
Generally, you will have a natural birth at a birthing center. That means vaginal births without pain medication. Since you will not have access to as much medical equipment, you must have a low-risk pregnancy and optimal health to have your child safely.
The staff at a birth center includes midwives, doulas, and care providers who advocate normal birth experiences and care models who will help through the delivery process. You may give birth in a bed, a bathtub with warm water, a chair, or an alternative birthing position without forceps or epidurals.
Usually, you will undergo birth preparation classes to get doula support, learn massage techniques, practice mindfulness meditation, use hydrotherapy, or complete breathing exercises. Other pain relief treatments include acupuncture, acupressure, and hypnosis. Occasionally, you can find nitrous oxide gas at a birth center.
After birth, you engage in skin-to-skin contact with your baby and breastfeed before taking the child’s measurements and vitals.
Benefits of Birth Center
Birthing centers have multiple advantages when comparing the birthing experience to a hospital. Let’s take a closer look at what those benefits are and if this is the experience you seek:
Comfortable, Private Space
Our birthing suites offer a comfortable home-like experience with a private space to call your own as you prepare to birth your baby. You will find comfortable beds and soothing decor, complete with dimmable lights. Your bed will have enough room for your partner to join you, either during your labor or when snuggling up with your new bundle of joy.
Because we want you to feel right at home, we encourage you to personalize your space with pictures and music and to enjoy your favorite foods from home.
Freedom to Move and Eat
At Farmington Birth Center, you can eat whatever and whenever you want. While we offer a variety of soups, oatmeal, fruit, crackers, snacks, and juices, we encourage you to bring your own version of gentle comfort food, and snacks for your partner. By contrast, most hospitals do not let you eat during labor.
In your room, you can move as much as you would like. We encourage it. And since you will not have monitoring devices connected, you will be free to engage in gentle activity and experiment with birthing positions to enhance childbirth.
Shorter Stay
Birthing centers provide fewer medical interventions and medications, so you will not need as long to recover. You can usually leave between four and six hours after birth. That way, you’ll get home to your own bed, and your family sooner. Our team will follow up closely with you and baby the next day and following weeks after delivery to make sure your transition into parenthood is going smoothly.
More Likely to Have a Natural Birth
According to the American Association of Birth Centers, nine out of ten people will have a vaginal birth at a birthing center. In addition, only 6% of low-risk mothers need C-sections, compared to 27% at a hospital. That means you will have a four times greater chance of having a natural birth at a birthing center than at a hospital, should that be important to you.
Stay With Your Baby
At Farmington Birth Center, you will never be separated from your baby after birth. Any attention or monitoring that your baby needs will happen in your room, usually in the comfort of your arms, or right next to you or your partner, on your bed.
Midwives Are Always Present for Support and Keeping a Close Eye on Mother and Baby
Instead of seeing new nurses and doctors every few hours in a hospital, you you will receive personalized care from your devoted midwives, and a doula if you choose. You can create a friendly relationship and visit your team during the prenatal, labor, and postpartum periods. They will answer your questions, while providing ongoing support and encouragement as you prepare for birth.
Lower Costs
If you do not have insurance, a birthing center will cost much less than a hospital on average. This is because you spend less time in a birthing center and use fewer resources, so medical costs are significantly lower. Even with insurance coverage, so many services in the hospital get people to reach their out of pocket maximum for the year quickly where birth center and midwifery services are just as great of an option out of pocket as going to the hospital for care. We can do a simple verification of benefits to see if your insurance plan will cover care and estimated patient responsibility at Farmington Birth Center.
Conclusion
If you have a low-risk pregnancy, and want personalized care, consider choosing Farmington Birth Center. You can enjoy a relaxing, comfortable, and welcoming environment with midwives committed to providing high quality, customized maternity care for you and your baby.
At Farmington Birth Center, we offer you a home away from home to welcome your baby into the world.
We have many available classes to take including childbirth education, breastfeeding, newborn care, yoga, and so much more!
Our birthing suites have comfortable beds, private terraces, warm candle light, deep soaking tubs, and ambiance to help calm your nerves and help to gently ease your baby into the world.
Contact us today to chat with a midwife and schedule a complimentary tour. We look forward to meeting you!