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 movements are 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.
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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.
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“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.”