Birth Place Options

  Where you choose to birth your baby is an individual decision and only you know what is best for you and your family.

  We have many options to choose from and many families in Kitsap choose to travel to their birth place that best meets their needs.  

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Home Birth and Birth Centers
  Home Births and Birth centers are conducive to having a natural birth with no pain medication.  At home and at a birth center, the mother’s movement is unrestricted and she is encouraged to eat and drink throughout labor as well as use comfort measures such as getting into a tub or taking a shower.  There is no strapping on of fetal monitors and blood pressure cuffs.  These tools are used but you are not restricted by them.   After your baby is born, immediate skin to skin contact and breastfeeding are encouraged.   Home birth takes this comfort level one step further as you don’t have to travel to have your baby and you are in your own peaceful space where your care provider comes to you and brings her tools, medications, and equipment with her.  Birth Centers are designed and decorated to mimic the comforts of your own home with birth tubs, normal beds and furniture to accommodate not only you and your baby but your family as well.  

Hospital Birth
  Each hospital in our area is unique and offers different atmospheres and services.  Some strive to give you a more home-like atmosphere and others have a more medicalized feeling and practice.  We have a variety in the Kitsap/Tacoma area to choose from.   We have everything from smaller county hospitals with a birth center feel, like Jefferson in Port Townsend, to large teaching hospitals in Tacoma, like Tacoma General, to the hospitals like St. Joes who are favored among those wanting a VBAC or a water birth in a hospital setting with midwives.    Hospitals have the advantage of immediate emergent care although the flip side to that is it is often more difficult to have an unmedicated  birth in that environment depending on which one you choose.  
From the Salmonberry website-
“A freestanding birth center is a beautiful, home-like facility which is not attached to or affiliated with any specific hospital. It is staffed by midwives who provide maternity care to healthy low risk people enjoying uncomplicated pregnancies. In hospitals births are generally managed as medical events.  Midwives attending births at freestanding birth centers are experts at facilitating normal childbirth. Birth centers offer a middle ground to families who feel more comfortable birthing close to higher-level care or for whom home birth is not convenient.”

Salmonberry Community Birth Center-
“Salmonberry Community Birth Center is  Kitsap County’s only freestanding birth center, and  provides a new choice for families seeking midwifery care and out-of-hospital birth.”
Midwives Julie Bennett, Melanie Brindle, and Holly Campbell
20696 Bond Rd NE
Building C Suite 110
Poulsbo, WA
360-779-0004
salmonberrybirthcenter@gmail.com
www.salmonberrybirthcenter.com

The Birthing Inn Tacoma
6002 Westgate blvd. Suite 120
Tacoma, WA
253-761-8939
connectwithTBI@gmail.com
www.thebirthinginn.com
The Birth House- Olympia
info@thebirthhouse.com
360-459-7222
2117 State Street
Olympia, Washington 98506
www.olympiabirthcenter.com
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Harrison- Silverdale~
www.harisonmedical.org/home/women-children
1800 NW Myhre Rd.
Silverdale, WA
360-337-8800

Jefferson Healthcare Hospital~
“Our birthing suites have many comforts of home—refrigerators, televisions, CD players, soaking tubs, and large private showers - some with beautiful views of the mountains and water. Your partner or spouse is encouraged to stay with you throughout your labor and delivery. Your baby will room in with you, and siblings are always welcome when accompanied by an adult.”

Jefferson HealthCare  is a baby friendly hospital and the 5th in the state to achieve this certification.  Only 5% of hospitals in the US have successfully achieved this designation.
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www.jeffersonhealthcare.org
3rd floor 834 Sheridan
Port Townsend, WA
360-385-2200- ext. 3600


St. Joseph Medical Center, Tacoma~
http://www.chifranciscan.org/St-Joseph-Medical-Center/Family-Birth-Center/
1717 S. J street
Tacoma, WA
253-426-4101

St. Joes is VBAC friendly.  They have midwives who attend births in the hospital.  Water birth is an option at St. Joes. They also have a level III NICU.  

Franciscan Certified Nurse Midwives~
http://www.chifranciscan.org/Doctors-And-Clinics/Medical-Specialties/Certified-Nurse-Midwife/


Midwifery Birth Center~ seperate building but a part of St. Joes~ Tacoma
https://www.chifranciscan.org/Health-Care-Services/Womens-Care/Pregnancy-and-Childbirth/Birth-Centers/Midwifery-Center-Tacoma/
Tacoma General~
http://www.multicare.org/fbc/
253-403-1032
315 Martin Luther King Jr Way
Tacoma, WA 98405

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