Midwifery Care – Birthing Options

When our patients give birth in the hospital, they can be assured of receiving personalized care and coaching from one of our certified nurse-midwives. Whether you prefer epidural anesthesia for delivery or no medical pain management, our midwives will guide you through your birth experience.

The Birthplace

Imagine a place where your birth plan is honored and your body’s ability to birth your baby is embraced. You’ll find that at The Birthplace at Prisma Health. Our midwives offer high-quality, compassionate care in a comfortable family-centered maternity environment.

Our services

• Nursing staff trained in family-centered maternity care
• Non-pharmacologic methods for comfort and coping during childbirth including hydrotherapy in the shower or tub and birth aides such as birth stools and squat bars
• Board-certified lactation consultants available 24 hours a day to assist you with breastfeeding
• Maternal-fetal medicine specialists available seven days a week for consultation or by referral as needed
• Anesthesia service available 24 hours a day, should you desire an epidural
• Mother and baby room sharing
• Mother and baby cared for by the same nurse
• Routine procedures performed in the room to offer learning experiences for parents

Water birth

Because your baby has lived inside amniotic fluid sac for nine months, birthing into a similar environment can offer a gentler birth for the baby and less stress for the mother.

Benefits

For birthing woman

A water birth can help a woman relax physically, which leads to mental relaxation and an increased ability to focus on the birth process.

• Warm water is soothing, comforting and relaxing
• Use of water can boost your energy during the late stages of labor
• The effect of buoyancy lessens your body weight, allowing free movement and new positioning alternatives
• Buoyancy promotes efficient uterine contractions and improved blood circulation, which results in increased oxygenation of uterine muscles, reduced pain for you and enhanced oxygen for your baby
• Immersion in water often helps reduce high blood pressure caused by anxiety
• Water can reduce stress-related hormones, allowing your body to produce endorphins, which serve as pain inhibitors
• Water causes the perineum to become more elastic and relaxed, decreasing the incidence and severity of tearing and the need for an episiotomy and/or stitches
• As a laboring woman relaxes physically, she also can relax mentally, resulting in an increased ability to focus on the birth process
• Because water provides a heightened sense of privacy, it can ease inhibitions, anxiety and fears

For baby

• A water setting is similar to the amniotic sac
• Being surrounded by water eases the stress of birth, thus increasing reassurance and a sense of security

Requirements for water birth

You and your baby must meet the following criteria for water labor and/or birth:

• Be generally healthy without major pregnancy complications
• Be carrying one baby who is presenting head down
• Be at least 37 weeks pregnant at the time of birth
• Not be a carrier of (or infected with) HIV, hepatitis B or C, or have other active infections at the time of the birth
• Have a BMI under 40 and follow weight gain recommendations for pregnancy
• Certain women attempting vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) may be able to have a water birth. If you have previously had a cesarean section, talk to your provider about whether you can have a water birth.