Even though I started my birth center experience late into my pregnancy (we moved to Oregon when I was six months along), I was instantly put at ease by the intimacy of the birth center and the genuine attentiveness of the midwives. I vividly remember being so surprised when a midwife called me (on a Friday evening!) to discuss lab test results. I appreciated not only the personal attention to this borderline issue, but also the birth center’s approach, which was to monitor rather than jump to a diagnosis. Everything resolved on its own and I am so thankful for the midwives walking with me on the journey, rather than jumping to conclusions and medicalizing the problem.
I feel so lucky and also so sad to have been one of the last births at the birth center. Having birth center care should be an option for all expecting parents. While some pregnancies and births do need medical intervention, the majority do not. Ideally, birth centers would be the norm for care, and hospitals would be an alternative. Before having my son at a different birth center in Ohio, I had mainly heard “horror stories” about birth from friends – all of these friends had had hospital births with unwanted, and likely unneeded, interventions. It wasn’t until meeting a coworker who had given birth at a birth center, and reading a book on natural births, that I realized how completely normal and wonderful giving birth can – and should – be.
Photo of Puja and Nina Clifford at the beloved former Nurse Midwifery Birth Center
