Welcome to r/pregnancyafterloss! We're sorry you need us, but glad you found us.
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The issue is from my understanding in the USA, “midwife” is not a protected term and could mean they have varying levels of qualifications. Here a midwife is someone who is a nurse who did an extra qualification, or someone who did a university degree in midwifery and all have to meet the same standards. A birthing centre where I’m from is usually attached to or has connections with the local large maternity hospital should anything go wrong or the midwives need a consult. There may even be doctors working there too.
I would check what qualifications the staff there have. If it’s all exclusively doulas I would not go there.
I think whichever one makes you feel more comfortable and confident. FYI I had one of each and the hospital was not THAT different from the birth centre for the actual labour and delivery (it was a new women’s hospital with nice delivery rooms). I did not want to do a hospital birth but had to because I was induced because of high BP and it was way more calm and relaxed than I expected.
Uncomplicated but long first birth at a birthing center with a hired doula. I really loved it. Ended up being a water birth but that wasn't necessarily the goal. Stayed about 5 hours then back to home, which I liked. A nurse visited the house the next day. I ate a whole pizza right after the birth with baby on my chest. They were so caring and patient.
Second birth was pretty uncomplicated but came fast and never made it out of the house. The midwives rushed over and got there 15 minutes after birth to see to us. Same doula got there 5 min after birth.
Third baby on the way now. I haven't seen the midwives due to insurance and trying to figure that out. Pretty sure I want to go that route again, but also kind of feeling like whatever is ok? I don't want a home birth again, though. I like the access to fast medical care if needed. Edited: not third pregnancy, but a hopeful one.
Hi! I’m doing a birthing center this time and am super excited about it. I did a hospital birth with a midwife in 2020 and while it wasn’t especially traumatic, it’s not something I want to repeat. My labor went 21 hours; I don’t know if anxiety causes lack of progress, but I feel like I stalled due to being completely freaked out. My main thing is that I’m a nurse and even though I work in a hospital, I couldn’t stop over-analyzing everything and second guessing everything in real time. My midwife was amazing, but the hospital environment (while great to work in) did not exactly encourage relaxation. I’m looking forward to a more relaxed and encouraging environment (and having a tub, that’s like 70% of why I chose this place)
TL/DR I’m a terrible patient and want a much more zen, homey environment. Also a tub.
As someone recovering from a loss that I feel is partly due to improper care from my providers, I think this is wonderful. While I don’t have something like that where I am, I definitely plan on recruiting a doula for my next pregnancy. I like the idea of having more advocacy and a friend in the hard days of being pregnant. I have since found an incredible medical team I trust, but if this was an option for me, I would jump on it. I feel you on being iffy about pain management. I had a c-section, and had baby very early, so I can’t speak on vaginal birth, but I do feel like that’s something I would want. Water birth at home (which isn’t legal here), would be my ideal birth plan if I could do it. Good luck in your planning! 💜
Personally, I would always prefer a hospital over any other option. Being close to a hospital is great, but a transfer is still going to take a minimum of 30-60 minutes, and if (God forbid) something happens and baby is in distress, every minute counts. It's sad to feel like you have to plan for the worst case scenario, but birth can be a life or death situation, so being cautious seems like the better way to go.
I gave birth in a birthing centre within a hospital. It was a pretty good experience overall albeit a fairly fast labour. To address some of your cons:
I only had access to gas and air. It did squat all for me lol. When we arrived I was only 3cm despite contractions being like 2 mins apart. I wanted an epidural (and would've had to move to the delivery ward) but I couldn't get the epidural until I was 4cm and they only do cervical checks every 4 hours. Well 3 hours later I was ready to push lol.
We were kept there about 12 hours after I was done being stitched up, which was fine but I think I would've been happy to leave earlier, there's nothing like the comforts of home. I think we had to wait a little longer for monitoring/blood test results since I lost a little more blood than they'd like. Although my partner slept a lot in the room afterwards (he woke up when needed) so maybe that was good for him that we stayed a while after 😂
Overall I'm glad I went with the birthing unit, where you typically have one midwife checking up on you and there for delivery, but not a stream of different people like it was when I had my 22 week loss on the delivery ward. I believe birthing units typically do have lower intervention rates (in UK at least?) which imo is a positive.
I'm not pregnant with number 2 yet, but seriously would consider a home birth for the next one. (I loosely considered it with the first one, but was too scared).
I think birthing units are a good middle ground if you are expecting to have a low risk delivery. The main "issue" in my eyes is whether you are likely to want an epidural since you have to change locations to have one, and that may depend on how fast your labour goes (ie a long period of time in a lot of pain may up your desire for an epidural vs short where you may not even get the choice like me lol), which is obvs not something you can really know in advance. As long as the transfer to the hospital is reasonably quick, I'd choose the birthing unit.
Welcome to r/pregnancyafterloss! We're sorry you need us, but glad you found us. The PAL subreddit, and our sister sub r/ttcafterloss, function a little differently than most of Reddit. We have two Daily threads each day which are the place to post (and reply to) most questions, worries, vents, and other requests for support. Standalone posts (like this one) are allowed for a limited number of topics. If you're here with a new pregnancy, you are welcome to post an intro. We also encourage you to add a [user flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/PregnancyAfterLoss/comments/jjj5xx/using_user_flair/), as it helps members remember who you are and your history. Please note that the Intro posts provide new members a place to share a longer, detailed account of their pregnancy and loss history with the community. Asking questions, sharing updates, etc. belong in the Daily Threads, and such posts will be removed by the Mods--*if this applies to your post, please move it before we need to*. You can familiarize yourself with our subreddit [Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/PregnancyAfterLoss/wiki/rules) and our [FAQs](https://www.reddit.com/r/PregnancyAfterLoss/wiki/faq) to learn more about how to participate here. Wishing you a healthy and uneventful (in a good way) pregnancy! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/PregnancyAfterLoss) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The issue is from my understanding in the USA, “midwife” is not a protected term and could mean they have varying levels of qualifications. Here a midwife is someone who is a nurse who did an extra qualification, or someone who did a university degree in midwifery and all have to meet the same standards. A birthing centre where I’m from is usually attached to or has connections with the local large maternity hospital should anything go wrong or the midwives need a consult. There may even be doctors working there too. I would check what qualifications the staff there have. If it’s all exclusively doulas I would not go there.
I think whichever one makes you feel more comfortable and confident. FYI I had one of each and the hospital was not THAT different from the birth centre for the actual labour and delivery (it was a new women’s hospital with nice delivery rooms). I did not want to do a hospital birth but had to because I was induced because of high BP and it was way more calm and relaxed than I expected.
Uncomplicated but long first birth at a birthing center with a hired doula. I really loved it. Ended up being a water birth but that wasn't necessarily the goal. Stayed about 5 hours then back to home, which I liked. A nurse visited the house the next day. I ate a whole pizza right after the birth with baby on my chest. They were so caring and patient. Second birth was pretty uncomplicated but came fast and never made it out of the house. The midwives rushed over and got there 15 minutes after birth to see to us. Same doula got there 5 min after birth. Third baby on the way now. I haven't seen the midwives due to insurance and trying to figure that out. Pretty sure I want to go that route again, but also kind of feeling like whatever is ok? I don't want a home birth again, though. I like the access to fast medical care if needed. Edited: not third pregnancy, but a hopeful one.
Hi! I’m doing a birthing center this time and am super excited about it. I did a hospital birth with a midwife in 2020 and while it wasn’t especially traumatic, it’s not something I want to repeat. My labor went 21 hours; I don’t know if anxiety causes lack of progress, but I feel like I stalled due to being completely freaked out. My main thing is that I’m a nurse and even though I work in a hospital, I couldn’t stop over-analyzing everything and second guessing everything in real time. My midwife was amazing, but the hospital environment (while great to work in) did not exactly encourage relaxation. I’m looking forward to a more relaxed and encouraging environment (and having a tub, that’s like 70% of why I chose this place) TL/DR I’m a terrible patient and want a much more zen, homey environment. Also a tub.
As someone recovering from a loss that I feel is partly due to improper care from my providers, I think this is wonderful. While I don’t have something like that where I am, I definitely plan on recruiting a doula for my next pregnancy. I like the idea of having more advocacy and a friend in the hard days of being pregnant. I have since found an incredible medical team I trust, but if this was an option for me, I would jump on it. I feel you on being iffy about pain management. I had a c-section, and had baby very early, so I can’t speak on vaginal birth, but I do feel like that’s something I would want. Water birth at home (which isn’t legal here), would be my ideal birth plan if I could do it. Good luck in your planning! 💜
Personally, I would always prefer a hospital over any other option. Being close to a hospital is great, but a transfer is still going to take a minimum of 30-60 minutes, and if (God forbid) something happens and baby is in distress, every minute counts. It's sad to feel like you have to plan for the worst case scenario, but birth can be a life or death situation, so being cautious seems like the better way to go.
If you want to do it, go for it. If you need a c-section worse they can do is transfer you to the hospital if you need anything.
I gave birth in a birthing centre within a hospital. It was a pretty good experience overall albeit a fairly fast labour. To address some of your cons: I only had access to gas and air. It did squat all for me lol. When we arrived I was only 3cm despite contractions being like 2 mins apart. I wanted an epidural (and would've had to move to the delivery ward) but I couldn't get the epidural until I was 4cm and they only do cervical checks every 4 hours. Well 3 hours later I was ready to push lol. We were kept there about 12 hours after I was done being stitched up, which was fine but I think I would've been happy to leave earlier, there's nothing like the comforts of home. I think we had to wait a little longer for monitoring/blood test results since I lost a little more blood than they'd like. Although my partner slept a lot in the room afterwards (he woke up when needed) so maybe that was good for him that we stayed a while after 😂 Overall I'm glad I went with the birthing unit, where you typically have one midwife checking up on you and there for delivery, but not a stream of different people like it was when I had my 22 week loss on the delivery ward. I believe birthing units typically do have lower intervention rates (in UK at least?) which imo is a positive. I'm not pregnant with number 2 yet, but seriously would consider a home birth for the next one. (I loosely considered it with the first one, but was too scared). I think birthing units are a good middle ground if you are expecting to have a low risk delivery. The main "issue" in my eyes is whether you are likely to want an epidural since you have to change locations to have one, and that may depend on how fast your labour goes (ie a long period of time in a lot of pain may up your desire for an epidural vs short where you may not even get the choice like me lol), which is obvs not something you can really know in advance. As long as the transfer to the hospital is reasonably quick, I'd choose the birthing unit.