Hi, guys.
It's Melissa at CloudMom.com.
A couple of moms have asked me where I come out on the whole issue of where you should
deliver your baby.
Should you deliver your baby in a hospital or in a birthing center?
So, that's what today's video is about.
And to start, I delivered all five of my babies at a hospital, at New York University Hospital,
and I am so grateful to that hospital.
They did a beautiful job delivering all of my babies, taking care of my one baby, Becket,
who was in the NICU.
And I was so grateful to have all of the medical professionals there and to have the resources
there.
I had pre-term labor actually with each of my babies and I had very complicated pregnancies,
so I don't think that I was a candidate for a birthing center, which leads me to my next
point.
You know, where should you be in order to consider having your baby at a birthing center?
What is generally advised is that you are a healthy woman, you've had a healthy and
uncomplicated pregnancy, and you're looking forward to a routine delivery which is not
gonna have complications.
And if that is the case, you might really be interested in exploring the option of having
a baby at a birthing center because birthing centers offer a much more family and nurturing
type environment where you can have a greater amount of control over the whole experience
and also less medical intervention through things like IVs and fetal monitoring, which
basically means that a belt is placed around your belly and there's a monitor that's monitoring
the heart rate of the baby.
And you don't have to have this in a birthing center.
You might have a nurse come by with a hand-held Doppler that monitors for the fetal birthing
rate and that might be sort of less of an intervention and make you more comfortable.
So anyway, here are some of the other advantages of giving birth at a birthing center that
I found.
And if anyone else has had this experience, please share it on CloudMom.com.
I'd love to hear what you've been through and it would be really great to learn more
about it.
So, again, sense of control and involvement.
I mentioned the lack of medical interventions, which is really a priority for many moms.
All of the baby's exams and the baby's first bath often take place in your room, and that's
a possibility in a birthing center whereas in a hospital that might not be normal procedure.
That's a wonderful thing.
Lots of encouragement if you wanna have natural childbirth.
I had this twice.
In a birthing center, you probably will have a midwife...
You will have a midwife, and you will have people who will be more committed to having
you have birth without an epidural, which is not available at a birthing center.
So that's a really great thing about giving birth at a birthing center.
More freedom of movement.
You're gonna have less restrictions placed on what you can eat, whether you can walk.
Things like that, tends to more highly controlled in a hospital.
A more homey atmosphere, you might have your own refrigerator for snacks, you might be
able to have your other children present, things like that that might not happen in
a hospital.
A lot of support with breastfeeding, birthing centers have terrific resources for breastfeeding
mothers, lactation consultants that can really help you, and so forth, it might be beyond
what you might get at your hospital.
Make sure you look into all this because each case is different, but this is sort of generally
what happens.
Lower cost.
Because there's less medical intervention, birthing centers can be up to a third less
expensive, which is a really big difference, and part of that is the speedier check out.
Also because you've maybe had fewer drugs and there aren't normal medical procedures
involved, you might be able to leave the hospital within 12 or 24 hours, which might be what
you wanna do.
So, that's a real advantage.
Okay, so what else did I wanna say?
Anyway, that's it.
I did not give birth in a birthing center.
Oh, here's another thing.
You think about this as being this kind of strict dichotomy, but actually now, many hospitals
have birthing centers that are part of the same facility, so I think that's a great option
because you're right there, you get the advantages, but if God forbid you ever need some medical
assistance and additional resources and support, it's right there.
I really like that.
Again, if I had to make the choice even again today, I would not choose a birthing center
because I did have breathing problems with my third baby, Becket, who was rushed to the
NICU and all my babies were born early, so I was too nervous to be away from standard
medical support.
So, that's just my own experience.
But anyway, I'd love to hear more about yours.
Thanks for watching CloudMom, and I will see you next time.