Fun question please ALL answer this

OK you are helping build a Birthing center and have the oppertunity to have a say in one thing that you would not want to be left out..

What is it???

My friend and I are talking about birthing centers, cuz we do not have any good hospitals here and I though this would be fun.

Mine would be a tropical place inside with a water feature and bench or chair

[JoyRenee]

Mmmm... I like the idea of the tropical feel. However at this point, after three births, I would prefer to give birth at home. There's just no place like home!

[30something13]

I am planning on a home birth my next one! but my a birthing center should top a hospital any day in my book. Hey you planning on a home borth this next time???

[Clysta]

Hmmm...thats hard because my hospital experience was a really good one, though I wish I could have birthed in a real bed. I think if I did that it would have been perfect. Ooo. With a small stream and rocks.

[chantal21]

I have to say, the tropical feel sounds so relaxing! I loved both of my birthing center experiences, BUT I felt it was a bit small and the one bed was uncomfortable. So, a nice, big comfy bed and a nice hot tub-like tub. :)

BUT I would LOVE to try a homebirth sometime, but hubby and I are not on the same page yet. He is too nervous. but at least when I give birth at the center, I get to go home within 2-3 hours. So it's not too bad.

[JoyRenee]

Chantal- my husband is the SAME EXACT WAY! He is so uncomfortable with the idea even though it has been proven to be safer than the hospital (for low-risk women and with a CNM present).

So based on what I said about 30something13 I don't think we will have a homebirth unless my husband changes his mind. Where I live, too, it is illegal to have a homebirth with a midwife licensed in my state. It's so completely ridiculous. Homebirth has been proven safer than the hospital, midwives are trained for birth way more than OBGYNs who have, for almost all of them, NO IDEA what a normal birth looks like (normal isn't what we see in the movies!) and it would be considered illegal for me to have a birth that is safer for me and my baby. Arg!!!

Anyway, back on subject- I never gave birth in a birthing center. I mean some hospitals tout that they have a birthing center or a birthing floor but they're still just hospital rooms. I have, however, visited a few friends in a neighboring town in their birth center and I agree with an above commenter that the rooms were SMALL! And they still looked like a hospital room with different decorations.

ONE thing I must must must have at my next birth is a tub. But not any regular tub. I'm talking a nice, big laboring whirlpool tub. I got in the tub during my last birth (a natural birth) but it was just your standard little bathtub, smaller than a tub at home, and I was on my back and it was just painful. Laboring on your back is just ridiculous.

[JoyRenee]

I meant "above", not "about" in my second paragraph. Oy vey! I keep mistyping everything.

[chantal21]

Yea Joy, Hubby is afraid of having the "mess" from birth in our home and he thinks he will have nightmares about it. lol (silly guy!)
My midwife actually built a room just off of her house. Has a big, full bathroom (shower, no tub) and a nice area with a full size bed and a bench. It's very peaceful and bigger than the last place I went to and the nice thing is she lives at the end of a street...so no cars and it's so quiet all the time.

I think it's strange how it can be illegal to give birth at home!!! Shouldn't a women be able to choose what she wants to do?? No one should get in the way of that. I live in a very midwife friendly state, and most midwives can do homebirths, birthing center, and some can even work out of a hospital. Everyone women should be able to choose what she wants to do.

[JoyRenee]

I'm reading the book Pushed by Jennifer Block and I think it is the BEST book I have ready on birth preparation. The subtitle is The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care. It goes through every little thing and is so informative and well researched. But yes, she made the point that "Experienced midwives may even be subject to criminal investigation, prosecution and jail. In some places women who want a homebirth must go underground to hire a midwife. And as they give birth these mothers are accomplices to a felony. Since when is normal birth a crime?" It is NOT about America wanting to protect mothers and unborn babies, that is for sure, since we have the highest mortality rate and the birth that has been proven SAFEST is not even respected or followed appropriately by medical professionals. It all comes down to the almighty dollar.

[JoyRenee]

PS My sister just had her first waterbirth with her fourth child and she said it is the most amazing way to birth and that every woman should have that option readily available. It is so serene and better for baby and of course cleanup is typically much quicker, LOL! Her waterbirth was in a hospital but with midwives.

My hospital doesn't currently allow waterbirth but my midwives told me that if I'm in the water and start pushing there really isn't anything they can do to stop me. They kind of said it in a way that was giving me permission because I think they know it is a very beneficial way to give birth but the hospital no longer permits it.

With Zoë the two suites with the labor tubs were occupied and they assured me beforehand that they have never had a mother want the room and not get it. I guess I was the first! I was so bummed but her birth was beautiful and I wouldn't change it for the world. But this next time... I'm totally hoping for the waterbirth, hospital policy or not! I may even write a letter to the hospital to tell them how ridiculous they are for not allowing this practice anymore.

[5n1]

I would have to agree that I would definately want a bigger more comfy bed....My hospital experiences were really good with all three, except for the small uncomfortable beds...

[Clysta]

Oooh. I read that book Pushed as well when I was still pregnant and it was really really good. I'd recommend it to all pregnant women to read. I really wish I had been better about my labour and done the waterbirth I wanted. The pain was just more than I ever thought possible. I'm hoping IF our minds change and we have another I will be able to birth the way I had hoped. I loved their birthing center inside the hospital. (it was a wing attached to the hospital) they have a huge whirlpool tub, a king size bed, birthing balls, showers for you and your partner and hardly any medical equipment.

[30something13]

Anyone ever hear of the Farm, Ina May Gaskin the world leading midwife established it with a few friends, they have cabins and hello, real woman to be doulas! It is in TN in Somerville I htink it is but not sure. The let the woman come there early if travelling to birth and get comfortable even a month early! To live! With family! Cool place and I have thought about driving the 5 hours there if my Dh says no home birth, we actually have not talked about it to much and I was talking from my plans earlier;) Guess i should plant good vibes about it!!

[victoriae3]

way off from what everyone was saying but. I had a great hospital nurses drs the whole 9yards prob because my daughter was the only baby born on that day in that hospital. But neways the only bad thing was i was starving. but back on track i would choose warm peaceful colors, some blues or light yellows. Nothing dark that will make the room smaller looking and feeling cramped in. a water fall sound or a brook sound playing in the background. just to calm. A smell that would relax you, nothing to strong. and lots of room so u dont feel clostrophobic (cs?)

[diva1957]

I'm a NICU nurse. I would definitely choose a hospital. To hell with nice colors to relax me. I'd choose the well being of my baby. When something goes wrong it happens so fast. You need an operating rooms seconds away when you give birth, not a nice bath tub and warm tropical settings. Good luck to you all!