Birth Center Birth vs. Hospital Birth
You have to make a lot of decisions throughout your pregnancy, especially as labor draws near. From small decisions like picking out the color of the nursery to deciding how you want to give birth, there are numerous choices to be made!
Deciding how to bring your little one into this world is one of those important decisions. You need to consider all aspects of health, experience, and comfort while making a final choice. Two of the most popular choices for giving birth are hospitals and birth centers.
What Is a Birth Center?
A birth center, such as the Minnesota Birth Center, is designed to provide you with a home-like, natural birthing experience without medical or surgical interventions. Instead of Ob/Gyn care, birth centers like the Minnesota Birth Center have trained Certified Nurse Midwives, nurses, and doulas to assist you through your pregnancy and birth.
The core emphasis is to support and assist the normal physiologic process of the birth of a healthy newborn. To achieve this, we use a number of natural techniques to ensure the labor progresses smoothly and the mother feels comfortable and healthy.
How Is It Different From a Hospital?
Here are some major differences between hospitals and birth centers:
- The rooms at a birth center are designed to be more comfortable and home-like, with comfortable beds, labor pools for water birth, private bathrooms, kitchenettes, and much more.. At a birth center, each family gets more individualized care and attention from their midwife because they take on a smaller amount of clients to deliver a personal experience.
- You have the freedom to walk around, eat, and choose how you labor at a birth center while in most hospital settings you will have to follow their procedures.
- There is little to no use of medicines or medical support at birth centers, whereas hospitals have a standard protocol of medications and procedures.
Why Would Someone Choose One Over The Other
If you have a healthy pregnancy with no risk factors, choosing a birth center to deliver might be preferable. However, if you have a high-risk pregnancy and have had eventful labor in the past, you might want to go to a hospital to ensure that you’re getting the medical care and monitoring you need. Hospitals are better equipped to handle emergency situations such as an emergent need for C-section, medicine, or blood transfusion.
Pick What Is Best For You and Your Desired Birth
Having said all that, the final decision comes down to you, and we highly encourage that you go with the option YOU feel most comfortable and at peace with! If you want to learn more about birth at Minnesota Birth Center, send us a message!
