Women & Infant Alternative Birthing Center?

one drawback is that women can "risk out" easily and be transferred to L&D. prior csecs and multiples are excluded. other exclusions include gestational diabetes. i'm unsure of the new set up now, but there's a possibility of not being able to use the abc if a woman is already occupying the room. any thoughts or feedback on this, mamas?

my friend just gave birth at the abc on st. patty's day. she was nearly excluded given the results of her glucose test, but she fought like hell and took the test over several times until the results met hospital satisfaction. Despite this, she had a lovely experience.

You might want to look into Kent and Memorial too. Memorial has a birthing tub. They do far fewer births compared to W & I, which has the effect of enhancing quality of care. Many positive sentiments have been expressed here about Memorial.

Good luck!

I second every thing seoulmama said .

I attended an ABC birth last week (in one of the ad-hoc rooms Amberoxy mentioned), but managed to get a sneak peak at the "new" ABC, which is is smaller than the old one, down at the other end of the hall.

The majority of midwives who attend births at the ABC are part of large group practices, so your primary midwife may or may not be the one on call when you go into labor. This would be a deal-breaker for me, since part of the appeal of midwifery care to me, personally, is getting to know and trust the person who will catch my baby.

That being said, I've attended a number of quite lovely ABC births. I would check out the RI Birth Network if you're looking for additional information or resources on giving birth in RI.

Good luck and congratulations! :

Although I am sure there are some great midwives who do deliveries at the ABC there are some that are more medically minded...and you never know who you are going to get. Plus, if your birth is different from the normal curve your chances of having intervention and risking out of the birth center, are high at W & I. This is the case with most birth centers that are not independant but affiliated with the hospital. These types of centers are medically model based, verses midwifery model based...having more restrictive, liability based protocols, verses more medically evidence based protocols. The c/s rate is high at W & I...over 30%...that means 1 in 3 women will have a c/s. This is very high. I personally would never take that kind of a chance. If I were to have a hospital birth in RI I would go with Mary at Memorial, much better stats and much more personal care...she delivers most of her clients, sometimes her family practice doc partner does deliveries for her...both have good stats and you will know them both. Consider interviewing her to help you in your decision. Best of luck!

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If a practitioner is unaware of his/her own stats, that is a BIG red flag... No, the hospitals probably will not release data from any particular practice or doctor. This may have to do with their methods of data collection and analysis. The best thing is to ask the doctor in person.

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Unfortunately, yes. You may attempt one in the regular L & D of W & I. However, there are a host of obstacles making VBACs less successful at W & I. I'm the Chapter leader of ICAN of RI. Feel free to contact me with specific questions
[email protected]

Copy of my post from previous threads...

We had our little girl in the new ABC suite a few days after it opened! I had an amazing birth experience - exactly how I had wanted it to go.

I have read some negative things on here about the ABC and W&I, but my husband and I loved it. Large private room with it's own jacuzzi tub. The nurses (we were there for a few shift changes; only one nurse is on at a time) were terrific - no interventions other than listening with the doppler every so often. Basically I labored on my own, wherever and however I wanted, with my husband and our doula. My midwife would check in and make suggestions when the going got tough. I pushed when I wanted and how I wanted. And when Violet was born, she never left our arms. Delayed cord clamping, immediate skin to skin time and breastfeeding, no eye goop or shots, etc. I did have to stay overnight for a bleeding issue so I was in the "regular" part of the hospital. But the nurses there were also great; making sure breastfeeding was going ok, helping me with going to the bathroom (let's face it - things are mess after giving birth ), and once again, Violet never left our room.

I was never rushed or told what to do. I was worried that I would be on the dreaded "hospital clock" but that wasn't the case at all. I was continuously encouraged to stay strong, that I was doing great and I would meet my baby soon. I owe so much to my midwife, Suzanne Lowe. We had talked about my birth plan before so she knew how I wanted things to go, and that's exactly what she helped facilitate.

We would definitely have our next baby there!