Birth Center or Hospital: Choosing Your Birth Environment
Birth Center or Hospital: Choosing Your Birth Environment
Of all the choices to be made surrounding pregnancy and birth, choosing where and with whom to birth is one of the most important. While not all pregnancies are appropriate for out-of-hospital birth, for those considered healthy and low-risk, birth centers offer a variety of benefits compared to hospitals.
Personalized and Continuous Care
Birth center midwives provide relationship based care, with the goal of providing a personalized birth experience. During labor, you receive support from two clinical staff - a midwife and a birth assistant .. These are the same clinical providers you know from your prenatal period. Receiving continuous labor support by the same is associated with lower intervention rates and better outcomes
Labor is an intimate process. Hospitals often have many medical staff that oversee multiple patients in labor, resulting in care by unfamiliar staff. Disruptions from strangers can impede labor progress.
More Freedom and Autonomy in Labor
Birth centers are designed to support physiological, unmedicated labor and birth. Midwives make this possible through education and planning with you throughout pregnancy. The goal is empowering you to make choices that will personalize your labor experience. You are encouraged to move freely, use birthing balls, labor in different positions, or birth in water. It is also important to eat and drink during labor to keep your energy up and stay hydrated. Additionally, there is no cap on how many people you have during labor.
Hospitals tend to have routine interventions that can impede freedom of movement. IV fluids, continuous fetal monitoring, and other interventions limit certain mobility and position choices. Eating during labor is often discouraged which can lead to maternal exhaustion sooner. It is common for hospitals to restrict visitors to 1 or 2 for labor support.
Lower Intervention Rates
Birth center midwives use fewer medical interventions than hospitals and encourage normal, physiologic birth. Avoiding routine interventions allows you more freedom of movement and the ability to listen to your body. This model of care results in lower rates of induction, forceps, vacuum assisted birth, and episiotomy. There are also a significantly lower cesarean rates at around 6% for low-risk pregnancies at birth centers compared to 25%+ in hospitals (even for low-risk groups). Birth centers do not use continuous fetal monitoring and IV fluids routinely.
Receiving fewer interventions often means faster recovery, fewer complications, and better maternal satisfaction. Without the use of routine interventions, there is a reduced risk of “the cascade of interventions.” This refers to a common hospital scenario where the use of one intervention increases the likelihood of needing additional interventions.
Calm, Home-like Environment
You are encouraged to curate your birth environment with things that keep you calm and relaxed. This often leads to a more satisfying experience and even a lower perception of pain! Birth centers are designed to be comfortable and welcoming because midwives know the birth environment affects labor progress. At Indiana Birth Center, you are encouraged to bring in things that promote calm and relaxation. This home-like setting facilitates less stress and fear, often leading to shorter labor. Feeling safe and calm can improve birth outcomes and your emotional experience. Reducing unnecessary external stimuli and interruptions means you are able to focus on birthing your baby.
Hospitals often have lots of stimuli, like bright lights, machines beeping, and unfamiliar smells. There are some options for minimizing unwanted stimuli, but they are limited.
Smoother Admission and Discharge
Birth center midwives work with you during pregnancy to prepare for birth and postpartum. Once you are assessed for active labor, you are admitted directly to a birth suite.
Most clients go home within 4-6 hours of giving birth at a birth center, once determined appropriate for discharge. Since birth centers use less medical intervention, a faster physical recovery is normal. The bulk of the discharge teaching and birth certificate paperwork are completed in the weeks leading up to birth, so there is little to complete before discharge.
A hospital birth admission often begins with OB triage where labor assessed and then moved to the maternity floor. After birth, birth certificate paperwork and full discharge teaching have to be completed.
Summary
Studies consistently show higher satisfaction among those who give birth at birth centers. Your ability to make the space your own, have familiar labor support, and more autonomy lead to feeling a greater sense of control over your experience. When you feel empowered and in control in labor, versus vulnerable and scared, the physiological process is preserved.
If this sounds like the kind of birth experience you would like for your family, contact us or schedule a free tour! For further exploration about coming into care with Indiana Birth Center, check out our blog “Is a Birth Center Right for Me?”
