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Birthing center
A birth center presents a more home-like environment than a hospital labor ward, typically with more options during labor: food/drink, music, and the attendance of family and friends if desired. Other characteristics can also include non-institutional furniture such as queen-sized beds, large enough for both mother and father and perhaps birthing tubs or showers for water births. The decor is meant to emphasize the normality of birth. In a birth center, women are free to act more spontaneously during their birth, such as squatting, walking or performing other postures that assist in labour. Active birth is encouraged. The length of stay after a birth is shorter at a birth center; sometimes just 6 hours after birth the mother and infant can go home. Additional recommended knowledge
Birth centers in the United StatesLike clinics, birth centers arose on the coasts of the U.S. in the 1970s, as alternatives to heavily institutionalized health care. Today, use of birthing center facilities is even sometimes covered by health insurance. Several of the practices which were innovated in birth centers are beginning to enter the mainstream hospital labor and delivery floors including:
There are certain requirements that a woman needs to meet in order to be able to birth at a birth center. First, she must have an uncomplicated, low-risk pregnancy. Twins, vaginal births after cesarean section, and breech babies are not allowed to be delivered at birth centers. Free-standing birth centers require hospital backup in case complications arise during labor that require more complex care. However, even if a delivery can not happen at the birth center due to a high-risk pregnancy, birth center midwives might provide prenatal care up to a certain week of gestation. Amish birth centers in the United StatesThe Amish, known for their great respect for tradition, usually have homebirths or give birth at birthing centers. Only when there is risk to mother or child, do Amish women go to hospitals for the birth of their children. Two books have been written about Amish medical issues including their birthing practices: Dr. Frau: A Woman Doctor among the Amish by Dr. Grace Kaiser and House calls and hitching posts: stories from Dr. Elton Lehman's career among the Amish by Elton Lehman. Lehman is known for his work in founding a freestanding Amish birthing center. The Mount Eaton Care Center, Ohio's first such center, was established in 1984. In her book, Kaiser recounts the private nature of birthing among the Amish. She points out the practice of Amish women keeping labor a secret to all except their own husbands and midwife or obstetrician, as well as the practice of women waiting till active labor before summoning a midwife or OB. Due to the latter practice, fathers occasionally end up delivering their own children before the midwife or OB can arrive if a homebirth is selected. Amish women who choose a homebirth often continue with household duties until they are no longer physically able to continue. If birthing in a birth center, they are free to labor similar to that of homebirths: eating, drinking, visiting with their family members, etc.[1][2] Birth centres in AustraliaIn a response to the National Maternity Action Plan, State and Territory Governments in 2002 started to respond to consumer demand for an increased number of birth centres to be made available to women. Whilst most birth centres are attached to hospitals, some are being established as free-standing centres much further away from hospital back-up. As long as they are within 90 minutes of a hospital, they are considered 'safe'. Most birth centres are now being run solely by midwives, with obstetric back-up only used when there are complications. Some birth centres in Australia are moving away from the 'low-risk' model and are moving to an All risk model where women with medical complications are accepted into the birth centre but extra care is provided to them where necessary. ReferencesSee also
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Birthing_center". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia. |