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- #1: You want to have a homebirth, but don’t want to freak out your family too much
- #2: You want to have a homebirth, but would prefer to have at least some medical equipment on hand as labor/delivery is usually quite unpredictable
- #3: You want to avoid an epidural and have a natural birth
- #4: You do not want a continuous fetal monitoring device used on you during labor
- #5: You do not want to be induced
- #6: You subscribe to the philosophy that hospitals are for sick people, not mothers giving birth
- #7: You don’t want your water to be forcibly broken
- #8: You want a homier and less sterile environment
- #9: You hate the smell of hospitals
- #10: You want to avoid a C-section
- #11: You want to avoid a forceps delivery
- #12: You want to birth in an upright position
- #13: You want a water birth
- #14: You want to eat and drink during labor
- #15: You don’t want the umbilical cord cut until it stops pulsing
- #16: You plan to exclusively breastfeed your child
- #17: You intend to use Oral Vitamin K
- #18: You want to actually get some rest after the baby is born
- #19: You intend to skip the ointment that is typically applied to a newborn’s eyes
- #20: You Plan to Use Homemade Baby Formula
- #21: You intend to skip the newborn PKU heel prick test
- Where to Find a Birth Center Near You
When I first found out I was pregnant with my first child, there was no question that I would give birth at the hospital. In all honesty, the thought of having my child outside a hospital environment never crossed my mind or was it even discussed with my husband. Being from a medical family with two MDs and a nurse in the immediate family sealed the deal.
After informally polling a dozen or so women about their recent birth experience to determine which hospital was “best”, however, I inadvertently discovered that literally, every single woman I chatted with about her baby’s hospital birth had a terrible experience.
The full reality of the situation was staring me clearly in the face. My chance of experiencing a dream birth at a hospital was basically slim to none.
At that point, I didn’t know what I was looking for but I knew I didn’t want to have my baby at the hospital and I didn’t want a homebirth either.
Birthing outside the hospital was rare even back in the late 1990s and “googling” to find out info was not yet in vogue either, so I had to find information out the old fashioned way – by asking around! After a number of weeks, I finally found someone who suggested that I try to find a birth center.
Believe it or not, I had never heard of a freestanding birth center before but after visiting one, I realized that the idea really meshed well with the type of birth I was seeking.
I ended up delivering all three of my children at a freestanding birth center. This type of birth center is not affiliated with any particular hospital and generally does not have any doctors on staff. It offers state of the art care with nurse and licensed midwives during delivery but without interference or restrictive policies that require you to deliver on your back or within a certain number of hours else they wheel you in for a Cesarean section.
Birth centers offer a much more individually tailored approach to birth with the benefits of hospital birth and the freedom of a homebirth all wrapped into one.
Does this approach to birth appeal to you? If so, here are 21 reasons why you might consider having your baby at a birth center too!
#1: You want to have a homebirth, but don’t want to freak out your family too much
Birth centers are a good choice if you don’t have a husband, parents, or in-laws on board with the whole out of the hospital birth thing. A birth center is a happy medium that everyone can agree to.
#2: You want to have a homebirth, but would prefer to have at least some medical equipment on hand as labor/delivery is usually quite unpredictable
This reason played a big factor for me in choosing a birth center. I wanted the freedom of a homebirth but felt more comfortable in a location where the equipment was ready to go or a quick transfer to the hospital could occur (freestanding birth centers are frequently located in close proximity to a hospital) in case something unpredictable happened.
And, let’s face it. Birth is one of the most unpredictable experiences a woman can ever have!
#3: You want to avoid an epidural and have a natural birth
The truth is, hospitals give lip service to natural birth. They make a lot more money with a labor/delivery that involves an intervention of some sort.
A favorite tactic I’ve heard used to encourage an unwanted epidural is for the nurse to sweetly say when the woman is at her most painful contractions, “Don’t you want some medication for that, honey? You’ll feel a whole lot better right away!”.
Asking you if you want medication at the height of labor and when you are emotionally at your most vulnerable is a low blow. Most women would say “YES, GIVE ME DRUGS!”. I know I would have!
At a birth center, you don’t get those kinds of tactics. The nurses work through the contractions with you and there are many pieces of equipment like a birthing ball or birthing tub to assist you and relieve pain.
If you desire the amazing and empowering experience of natural birth, your chances of success at a birth center are a lot more favorable!
#4: You do not want a continuous fetal monitoring device used on you during labor
Who wants an ultrasound device strapped to her belly during labor? Talk about uncomfortable. Not to mention that the safety of such a device is highly questionable.
Did you know that 50 causal human studies have demonstrated the huge dangers of fetal ultrasound? I never had an ultrasound with any of my pregnancies, and I sure didn’t want one attached to my body during labor either.
When birthing at a hospital, you frequently don’t even have a choice about continuous electronic fetal monitoring. If you want to have a midwife check the baby’s vitals only between contractions as it should be, then go to a birth center.
#5: You do not want to be induced
Induction with Pitocin greatly increases a woman’s chances of a C-section. It also increases the odds of needing an epidural as the contractions from inducing labor progress are much stronger and more painful than natural contractions.
Hospitals are very Pitocin happy. If a woman is not progressing fast enough or her labor has stalled at 6-7 cm, a little shot of Pitocin is encouraged. Stay away and birth in a birth center if you want to avoid induction with drugs. This article on natural induction suggests alternatives.
#6: You subscribe to the philosophy that hospitals are for sick people, not mothers giving birth
Hospitals are indeed for sick people. No surprise then that the birth process at the hospital is treated as a clinical event and not the joyous, natural occasion it truly is.
#7: You don’t want your water to be forcibly broken
Hospitals just love to bust a laboring woman’s water. Why? It speeds things up considerably. Unfortunately, it also increases the pain of contractions significantly. Think “baby’s head ramming your dilated cervix” or “baby’s head cushioned by a bag of water ramming your dilated cervix”. Which would be more painful do you think?
When contractions become more painful, a woman is more likely to request or give in to pressure from the attendant nurse for an epidural.
As a woman who has labored all the way to 10cm with her bag of waters intact, I can tell you that it is MUCH more comfortable this way. I actually have pictures of myself talking on the phone to my Mom with a cup of tea in my hand while laboring, completely unmedicated, at 9cm.
Trust me, you don’t want some intervention happy nurse messing with your bag of waters just so he/she can go to lunch break on time!
#8: You want a homier and less sterile environment
The picture above is the birth center where I delivered my third child. Notice the rocking chairs on the wrap-around porch, the lovely lake at the back and the overall serene environment. Isn’t this better than walking the cold, sterile halls of the hospital during labor if they even let you walk around at all?
Calm is good during birth. Things go quicker and tend to have better outcomes when you are peaceful and calm.
#9: You hate the smell of hospitals
I hate the smell of disinfectant and all the other chemical smells that seem to exist permanently inside a hospital. Your sense of smell is heightened significantly during pregnancy too – at least mine was. The smell of a hospital would have made me ill during delivery which is another reason I chose to stay away.
#10: You want to avoid a C-section
Birth in a hospital and your chances of C-section are somewhere between 25-40% depending on the facility. Deliver in a birth center and your chances of a C-section are less than 5%. ‘Nuff said.
#11: You want to avoid a forceps delivery
Delivery by forceps can cause injury to your newborn. It is also the result of draconian procedures at many hospitals that require a woman to deliver on her back. Go to a birth center for more flexible policies that avoid the use of a dangerous instrument like a forceps and midwives who are skilled at delivering babies who seem to get “stuck”.
#12: You want to birth in an upright position
I found birthing in an upright position to be optimal for me. It allows gravity to work in your favor and it also involves less stress on your baby because pushing on your back can briefly cut off the baby’s blood supply.
Delivering in an upright or squat position is unthinkable in most hospitals. Can you see a doctor or nurse down on the floor underneath you ready to catch the baby in a hospital? Go to a birth center where midwives are more flexible and know how to handle deliveries from different positions.
#13: You want a water birth
I myself didn’t want a water birth, but many ladies do. Birth centers provide this service (usually for an additional fee), and you get the bonus of being able to labor in the tub too which does reduce pain.
Be forewarned, though, water birth is not the ideal approach to giving birth that it is promoted to be. The linked article discusses this little-discussed downside.
#14: You want to eat and drink during labor
I liked to eat and drink during my labor. This is a no-no at the hospital because eating before major surgery like a C-section could cause complications. Since the chance of C-section is so high at hospitals, many make it easy on themselves by just forbidding eating and drinking during labor.
#15: You don’t want the umbilical cord cut until it stops pulsing
After the baby is delivered, the umbilical cord should ideally not be cut until it stops pulsing. This allows all the blood in the cord to go to your baby and provide extra oxygen. A baby whose cord is cut too soon can be deprived of oxygen and even possibly brain-damaged.
If you want to learn more about why it is so important not to cut the cord too soon as is the practice in many hospitals especially when the parents plan to bank some of the newborn’s stem cells, please refer to this article on the dangers of fetal cord clamping.
#16: You plan to exclusively breastfeed your child
Hospitals love to shove a bottle of sugar water in a newborn’s mouth even if the parents have previously indicated objections to the practice. This mistake which is fairly common, can cause nipple confusion and reduce the chances of successful latching/breastfeeding.
You don’t want anything messing with your chances of a successful nursing relationship with your newborn. Your chances of successful breastfeeding are better at a birth center where bottles of sugar water and pacifiers don’t exist and supplementation with formula is not pushed.
#17: You intend to use Oral Vitamin K
The vitamin K1 injection is a synthetic form and an unnecessary intervention and pain experience for your baby. It also contains a number of dangerous ingredients and should be avoided if at all possible. If you wish to skip it, best to stay away from the intervention happy delivery teams at the hospital. Oral Vitamin K is used in Europe and is much safer.
#18: You want to actually get some rest after the baby is born
Hospital procedures require nurses to check you and your baby every few hours to make sure everything is “ok”. This requires poking and prodding even when you are obviously sleeping! If you want to get some decent rest after your baby is born, go to a birth center where they won’t be bothering you or your baby unless it is truly necessary.
#19: You intend to skip the ointment that is typically applied to a newborn’s eyes
There is absolutely no need for the eye ointment hospitals squirt in all newborn’s eyes. This stuff blurs their vision and interferes with the bonding process. I remember when my children were just born, I held them very close to my face and spoke softly to them and they were alert and their eyes definitely focused on my face. A newborn can see just fine from 6 or so inches away unless you squirt some useless ointment in their eyes!
If your child develops some sort of eye infection within a few days after the birth (which the eye ointment is supposed to prevent), simply drip a drop or two of breastmilk colostrum in each eye and it will clear up almost immediately.
#20: You Plan to Use Homemade Baby Formula
If you plan to use a quality homemade DIY baby formula recipe once you get home, revealing this in the hospital risks bringing in Child Protective Services.
Midwives and staff at a birth center know this option is healthy and wonderful for women who cannot breastfeed. Hence, you don’t have to have whispered conversations in a birth center about your holistic plans like when you birth in a hospital!
#21: You intend to skip the newborn PKU heel prick test
Before a newborn leaves the hospital, he/she is pricked in the heel to draw blood to test for the genetic disorder Phenylketonuria. This disorder only affects 1 in every 10,000-15,000 babies. If you wish to spare your child the pain of this, in my view, an extremely unnecessary test, then have your baby at a birth center.
I made the mistake with my first child of going to the pediatrician 2 days after he was born at a birth center to get this test. Because I was so healthy and his blood so full of natural vitamin K because I drank nettle tea in the final weeks before giving birth, his blood clotted too quickly for the test to “take”.
The doctor and nurses stabbed his heel 3 times to draw blood with the test failing each time due to his blood clotting so fast. After the third failed attempt, I could take my child’s screams from the pain no longer and finally walked out of the doctor’s office despite their protests.
My child never did have a successful PKU test and my other two children were never subjected to this test as I never allowed it again. This is one thing that if I could do over, I would have handled differently as I would have skipped the PKU completely from the get-go.
I hope this list encourages you to consider having your child at a birth center instead of the hospital.
If you are an experienced birth center Mom, doula or midwife and I’ve inadvertently left out some additional reasons for evaluating an out of hospital birth, please add them in the comments section for those who may use this post as a checklist for making this important decision!
Where to Find a Birth Center Near You
Back when I found a birth center near me, there was not much of an internet and no smartphones to easily research local establishments.
I had to do it the old fashioned way…ask around!
I inquired at health food stores, gyms and other places where folks with a healthy living mindset hang out.
Finally, one day, a chiropractor told me that he “had heard” about a local freestanding birth center in a town nearby. I called the local library and Chamber of Commerce in the area until I found the name and phone number.
I still think this is the best way to find one, as you will typically get feedback on whether the birth center is reputable or not. Reviews online can sometimes be gamed. Talking to someone about their experiences is legit.
If I can give you one piece of advice, I would suggest going with an independent birth center rather than one affiliated with a hospital. Once a birth center becomes an arm of the hospital, the midwives that staff it become restricted by the same, overly rigid standard of care procedures.
Flexibility and choices in the prenatal and birth process are the biggest reason that you probably want a birth center in the first place!
GREAT post, Sarah! I completely agree! I had two of mine at a birthing center, and it was WONDERFUL!!!
I had my first DD at a birthing center and had a great experience until I had to take her home…I had to put my BRAND SPANKIN new, delicate angel in a carseat. I was terrified the entire way home. When I got pregnant with my son, I knew I wanted all the perks of a birthing center but without the travel stress and had a homebirth. Best decision of my life. It was the most transcending experience of my life and I couldn’t recommend it more. I used the same midwives as my first birth and any equipment that could possibly be needed (that they would have at the birthing center) was brought to my home. I wish I would have had both children at home, but i think my first helped me decide that homebirth isn’t as scary as I thought. (for all intents and purposes it was exactly like the birth center…but better)
homebirth here!
I agree! I had all 7 of our babies at a wonderful birthing center and wouldn’t have it any other way! I am sooo spoiled by my sweet midwives 🙂 I have never experienced a hospital birth, thankfully! Hope I never will!
I have to agree with Jenn, the previous commenter. I am pregnant with my seventh child. All six so far have been birthed in a hospital. I was recently told by a home birthing father the number of reasons why he refused to let his wife birth in a hospital. It was all based on fear and inaccurate information. After 28 hours of labor with my first (large) child and getting extremely weak, I was given a half dose of drugs. The rest were completely natural. Yes, it is rare, but it can be done. I am a heavy bleeder, and want docs and drugs on hand should I bleed too much. I normally stay away from drugs, but if it’s going to save my life, I think the choice is obvious.
On another note, my mother would have died if she had not been in the hospital with her fourth child.
Both sides have their benefits, but many of the things you list above are not true. If you ask for certain things, such as no monitor, no drugs, etc., that’s what you’ll get. And bring your own food! Most of the time they leave me and my husband alone, and aren’t even going to know if we’re feasting on liver and onions while I’m in labor.
I have delivered in five different hospitals in two states and found the experience varies depending on the staff. Some are great, some are just doing their jobs, just like our experiences at the health food stores, farmer’s market, etc.
So, yes, birthing centers are wonderful, and I would have preferred them because of my personality. BUT, no, your child will not be forcibly extracted by forceps in the hands of a knife-wielding doctor while you’re drugged up and strapped to a metal table with nurses all around threatening to give your children incurable diseases with vaccinations and eye cream. My children did receive the eye cream and were all alert and focused on me for the first hour as well. Nobody gave them sugar water, and they were all highly supportive of breastfeeding. And the reason I didn’t get sleep in the hospital was because of the baby.
So, people, as much as I would love to have a homebirth, if you, like me, have a medical or personal (husband and mother) reason to be in the hospital, don’t panic. Nothing is EVER ideal (not even a home birth), but don’t be afraid! Stick up for your rights, make sure your husband knows what you want, and tell him in advance not to let you change your mind about the drugs or epidural, if you really mean it. In the end, I believe the next 60 years of your time with your child will be more important. Just two cents from a mom who had five wonderful births, from 16 to 48 hours long, and one very difficult first birth, during which I think my grandmother’s method of being knocked out ’til the baby was born would have been preferable. 😉
Having an strong willed advocate in any hospital setting definitely helps things from going awry!
I think what happens definitely depends on the state you live in, as well as the locale. If you’re in an inner city area, I don’t think you’re going to get that, “this is what we want–Oh please, how may I serve you” kind of care. As far as being left alone in a hospital setting, that has not been my experience. I lived in a major metropolitan area for 4 of my births. That means high malpractice insurance. They’re NOT going to leave you alone… Of course, it has also been almost 9 years since my youngest was born. There could’ve been a reawakening in this area, but doubtful.
Speaking up is fine and dandy, but my friend’s daughter had a hospital birth in the south this year, and the medical staff ran the show, top to bottom. My friend was even threatened with being removed by security for asking to wait on ‘necessary medical intervention’ like sugar water in the bottle! They told the mother that the baby had a low or high temp (can’t remember which) and that SHE, THE MOTHER, WAS NOT ALLOWED TO HOLD THE BABY TILL THE BABY’S TEMP NORMALIZED!!! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE. Not made up to make the south look BACKWARDS or anything like that. TRUE, and outlandish, disgusting, and i can’t think of how many other adjectives to describe it…
So where some may live in a community with very nice, well informed, hospital staff, that’s very often not the case. Again, I say, INFORM YOURSELVES, ARM YOURSELVES, GET YOUR HUSBAND TO PRACTICE SPEAKING UP AND TAKING AUTHORITY OVER YOUR SITUATION, because many times, the moms are PREOCCUPIED WITH LABOR PAINS, and do it with a smile, or they may threaten to remove you or your inlaws from the hospital. . .
Sorry for the caps. I truly believe that Christy had a great experience and not all babies can be born away from a hospital setting, as my last one couldn’t be. And I’m glad you did have a good experience. I just don’t want some innocent moms out there being fooled into thinking it’s EASY 🙂
Wow…check out all my typos! ;
I am not at all against birthing centers or home births…I think I would be a great experience, but if I had not giving birth to my first baby in a hospital with immediate axcess to an operating room I would have lost him, and he spent 10 days in the NICU as it was. My labor before the c-section went great, the c-section went great, my recovery was great, and my 2 VBAC births since then have both gone great. I love my hospital! I have wonderful doctors who have never pushed medication on me and have been open to whatever birthing position I want to try, nor have they ever offered my babies bottles. My docotrs were very supportiveof my decidsion to have VBAC deliveries, and did everything they could to make my experience great. Like I said..
It’s important to note that babies produce on their own as much vitamin K on day 7 or 8 as they ever will need in their lives (interestingly circumcision was performed in the Jewish culture on day 8). We must ask ourselves… is there a reason babies don’t produce vitamin K at birth? Perhaps the body just isn’t ready for it, as it usually has good reasons for doing the things it does.
We are choosing a homebirth with a licensed midwife, and I also have to point out that they bring tools to the birth including: oxygen, pitocin (hemorrhage) and many other tools to aid them in case of emergency or on the way to transfer. It can be just as safe (and in many ways safer) than hospital or birth center birth.
Thanks Sarah for another great post! I’m happy to find a comprehensive piece about vitamin K and all of the considerations you listed!
I wanted to have a birth center birth from the time I was young. My mother told me about a friend who was sitting in a rocking chair with her new baby at the birth center and about the jacuzzis there! I also watched HER give birth to my younger brother when I was 16 and her shouting NO NO NO as they tried to put an IV in when she was 10 cm and pushing! I knew THEN I wanted a midwife at a birth center.
When the time came, though, I chose a home birth. 1. The midwives carry all the stuff the birth center has (other than the jacuzzi). 2. The midwives were on rotation at the center and I couldn’t just choose one. Also, they were kind of more “nursey” than I liked. 3. I would have to get in a car and drive to the center in labor and come back home again afterwords. 4. It was more expensive. 5. I love my midwife and she does home births. And yes, everyone thinks I am a nut case while my friend who had her baby at the birth center last fall, is considered perfectly normal. 🙂
Sarah, I must respectfully disagree with so many of the points within this post….or if not the point, the very biased and bitter tone used to express it. I know many labor and delivery nurses, such as myself, would find the comment, “trust me, you don’t want some intervention happy nurse messing with your bag of waters just so he/she can go to lunch break on time!” offensive and simply not grounded in fact. So many of the healthcare professionals within the hospital are very pleased to assist in a natural birth because is it often “the road not taken” and can be such an exhilirating event, for both mother and onlookers. To make many of the assumptions that you did in this post, to me, is unfair and uninformed reporting. A hospital birth can most certainly be a “joyous occasion”, a carefully chosen doctor will gladly allow a naturally birthing mother to squat or deliver on all fours, a vaccination “mistake” leaves a hospital open to huge liability and is not as common as you implied (signing a waiver easily allows the parents to forego vaccination if they deem that best for their child), to name just a few of the misrepresentations within this article of many Hospital – Labor and Delivery units. I am certain that unfortunate AND blissful experiences are had in both facilities, Birth Center and Hospital…it’s the nature of the beast. In addition, some of my dearest friends are proponents for birth centers, so I think highly of many of the centers myself. However, I will not support the damaging of the reputations of many exceptional Labor and Delivery facilities, as well as the workers within that have committed themselves to the well-being of the mothers and babies within their care. After having cared for a dying mother, and many ill babies, in addition to all those blessed with a fabulous birth experience, I feel unquestionably certain of the value of hospitals in the birthing process. I think we would agree that the choice is a personal one and neither option is a perfect fit for all….accepting such can still allow us to see the VALUE in both.
I have no doubt there are some wonderful caring doctors and nurses who work in hospital OB. If what you say is true, though, why are women leaving hospital births behind in droves? If hospitals are losing customers that speaks the truth for itself. While there are excellent individuals working in hospitals, the overall experience is poor for most. The overall experience at birthcenters for most is excellent. Playing the odds for a wonderful birth experience – a birth center wins hands down for a low risk woman.
I should also add that 2 of my 3 pregnancies would most likely have been C-sections in a hospital. Because of the skill and above and beyond efforts of midwives in a birthcenter, I had all three natural and vaginally. Obviously, my experiences at a hospital would have been a disaster as what the midwives did for me would never have been done in a hospital. I know this because a friend who is a doula who has attended at many hospital births has witnessed the refusal of hospital staff to do a simple thing like push a cervical flap back so that I woman can start pushing and instead opted for a C-section. In another one of my births, the cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck. Many hospitals would use this an an excuse to do a C-section. My midwife instead was able to skillfully unwrap the cord during the birth. Amazing. You don’t see that kind of effort made at the hospital.
While I am very much a proponent of out of hospital birth, having apprenticed with a CPM for a year attending homebirths I also have to disagree with several points in this post and the overall tone. I’ve attended dozens of births in the hospital. I haven’t seen epidurals pushed, although the simple fact that moms know they are available does make it harder to go without. Most of the nurses I’ve worked with have been very supportive of moms going without pain meds, have given encouragement and made suggestions for comfort measures or positions. A woman’s choice of care provider has the greatest influence on her experience at the hospital in my opinion. The doctor is the one who will pressure to break mom’s water or require continuous fetal monitoring (which again, is not common here unless the baby appears distressed). Also the nurses caring for the baby immediately after birth usually make an effort to ask if the parents want the hep B shot and are very respectful of what’s on the birth plan. I realize there’s lots of room for improvement at the hospital (seems like around here at least it’s mainly with baby care and the many practices that aren’t backed by evidence) but it is possible for couples to have very positive birth experiences at the hospital if they choose their care provider wisely and are knowledgeable and willing to stand up for what they want.
Rachel, I appreciate what you have to say and even if every single one of the points in this post is pure baloney, birthcenters STILL blow away hospitals by a mile because of the low C-section rate. It does not matter one bit if your doctor or nurses are wonderful and fantastic if hospital procedure dictates a C-section under a given set of circumstances. Unfortunately, it seems pretty much all hospitals today still have procedures that force women into C-sections much more readily than should reasonably happen. For this reason alone, low risk women should wisely seek an out of hospital birth. Going to the hospital is just asking for trouble and if you want a vaginal birth, it is smart to avoid them altogether.
Hi Sarah
I love the fact that we can have midwifes in NZ and have lovely birth centres. I stayed home until last minutes with my first one, it was only my family and midwife at the birth centre, I was 9cm and they had to broke my waters, and push back that flap – all with minimum pain relief as most of it made me feel sick. My daughter also had the cord around her neck, and no side effects at all. Unfortunately with my twins I had to have it in the hospital, the same midwife caught the first one when the registar rushed in, broke the waters of the second one (too soon) and she started to go into distress, then the docter tried to do a scan where my midwife clearly told her she is coming out bum first. It was a busy night and the docter was clearly in a hurry. After the successfull birth thanks to my midwife’s silent intervention, we went straight to the birthing centre and both us and the midwife complained about the registar. I would have preferred my midwife all the way through even if we had to have it in a hospital.
Very respectfully put. Thank you for sharing.