Any FSBC births planned in this group?

[avaylee]

I know there's a thread for hospital births, and plenty of mamas planning for homebirths. Is anyone else here planning on going the birth center route? This is my first (probably only) and we're interviewing midwives at two birth centers here. Both are closer to the hospital than we are (just in case), and there's a chance we'll be in a condo (not a house) when we do deliver. I can't imagine putting close neighbors through the joys of labor. And, lastly, I don't want to clean up after the whole event before I can lay in my bed and hold my precious one for as many hours as I choose.

Are there other March mamas here that are going the FSBC route? Anyone that has FSBC stories to share? I'm trying to weigh all the pro's and con's before making a decision on this one.

[MsElle07]

I had an FSBC birth. It was definitely better than my hospital birth. Still, I hated having to get up and leave when I just wanted to rest and go to sleep. I remember wishing I was home in my king sized bed! I didn't like not being able to control who came in and out of the room. At one point after the baby was born, but I was still lying there naked, the director of the center came barging in to check something in the bathroom. (Without knocking or asking permission.)

While I do think FSBCs are a valid choice, particularly because insurance will often cover it, also remember that there is nothing that they have at the birth center that a midwife wouldn't bring to your house.

[lotusdebi]

I had my son at a birth center. It was great, for what it was. The midwives had their definitions of high-risk pregnancies that they wouldn't deal with (twins, breech, etc.), expected for me to take their tests and do the weigh-ins and such, and frequently checked on the baby's heartbeat and my progress during labor. I was happy with it at the time. My son got stuck on the way out, and I believe I would've been sectioned had I been in a hospital rather than a birth center, so there's that!
I'm having a homebirth with this one, since I've learned so much about birth in the last four years, and even a birth center birth entails too much intervention for my tastes. I want a hands-off experience this time. Four years ago, the midwives at the birth center were hands-off compared to what I knew about hospital births, and I couldn't imgine (at the time) how they could've been more hands-off. But, I know now, and I know what my body is capable of, so I'm going a different route.
I definitely believe that people should make informed choices about their births, and choose based on what's right for them at the time.
Good luck!

[audeesmom]

We are planning a birth center too. Did a hospital birth last time naturally, but I thought this would better suit our needs. The only thing I am not looking forward too is leaving right after, but since babies usually have a quiet alertness for the first couple of hours and then sleep, I think it should be ok.

[crazycandigirl]

I am very much hoping to go to a birthing center for this birth. I am having trouble getting the insurence to agree to cover them though. (we really dont have the money to pay for it ourselves) Sigh- huge ordeal. But luckly it should be fixed in the next 7 weeks or so. I will transfer to their care at that time. My DH and I joke about the chance that the insur. may not cover it and how we may be stuck with a regular doctor, and how we would just have an oops-we-didnt-make-it birth. I do not want to be in a hospital for the birth experience.

[avaylee]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I have thought about homebirthing, but I definitely have some fear there, being a first time mom, and I believe that a birth center will give me the extra assurance that I need to let me really relax and just be present with this birth. There is also the added reassurance that they are very close to a hospital (in my case) and already have good working relationships with the doctors there, in case of emergency.

Another post ending with "glad to hear I'm not the only one!"

[an_aurora]

We're going with a birth center as well. I am seriously pondering a home birth, but we'll probably go with the birth center. My DD was born in a hospital and we know we definitely will not go that route again.

[MamaAcorn]

I had an in-hospital bc birth with my first, which was the perfect compromise for dh, who wanted the hospital birth. I opted not to go home after 12 hours pp because I needed extra help, but the environment was done really well. It was seccluded from the rest of the hospital. The only people in the "unit" were our family, midwife and nurse. It was almost more home-like than the FSBC we used with my second pregnancy.

I had a FSBC last time around and was pretty pleased with the experience, even though I was only there for 12 minutes of my labor. Labor start to finish was less than 90 minutes and I was pushing in the car on the way to the bc. I so did not want to get in that car! The bc itself was okay, but the rooms seemed too much like a doctor's office.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to convince dh to do a homebirth this time around, but it will be a lot of work, so I'm likely to have another FSBC birth. We're not quite ready to debate this topic yet.

Pam

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by avaylee

Thanks everyone for the replies. I have thought about homebirthing, but I definitely have some fear there, being a first time mom, and I believe that a birth center will give me the extra assurance that I need to let me really relax and just be present with this birth. There is also the added reassurance that they are very close to a hospital (in my case) and already have good working relationships with the doctors there, in case of emergency.

That is very much why we had a birthing center birth with DD. We lived in a small town with a scary hospital and very bad issues with midwives/homebirthing (basically if you transferred to a hospital in that circumstance, you got an automatic c-section and then visit from child protective services...).

The birthing center an hour away gave us the kind of birthing environment we wanted, with midwives who had admitting priviledges at the local hospital if you needed to transfer, and good existing relationships with a high risk OB practice who smoothly handled the transition if at any point during pregnancy or birth things became too high risk for the midwife.

I'm much more comfortable having a homebirth here in Seattle where the transition to hospital care would be smoother if we needed it - and after one nice, easy birth, I feel that's much less likely to be necessary.

[happyblessedmama]

I wouldn't post in this thread but I see you asked for previous experiences.

We had a FSBC transfer experience that turned into a hospital delivery/12 day NICU stay.

Practicalities - transfers DO happen - SOMEONE has to be part of that 3% (or whatever %) of experienced (or not) moms. Find out what the m/ws charge. I was quite surprised to get charged $700 for a "transfer/use" fee of the birth center (that I was at about an hour out of a 2 hour labor) plus the mw's hospital delivery fee.

I'm a little cynical about it any more. I don't love hospitals either.

[avaylee]

Thanks for the info about the transfer fees... I'll be sure to ask about that. Just trying to cover all my bases.

[PrinceE&LsMom]

Yep and we must be going to the same one Puget Sound Birth Center. I had two hospital births at Group Health Eastside but they stopped doing deliveries shortly after my 2nd was born. I would love to do a homebirth but my dh flat out refuses so bc it is. I have met the midwife Heike Doyle (helped me through my miscarriage) and I was so far impressed.

[avaylee]

Yup, Puget Sound Birth Center is one of my options. I'm talking to Ali there. We're also interviewing a midwife that works for Eastside Natural Health. Not sure which we're going to go with yet... but I'd imagine we'll make a decision sometime Wednesday.

Small world, eh?

[FLMama092485]

I have planned on this birth being at a FSBC. I really wanted a home birth but didn't have much support from my fam. So looks like I ma going to have to pack my bags again for this one. :-)