HealthPartners - Preparing for childbirth

CHAPTER 1 Preparing for Birth

Choosing a Facility Early in your pregnancy, you’ll want to choose a hospital or birth center where your baby will be born. Your health care provider can help you decide which place might be the best choice. You can also ask friends and family members about their experiences and tour several facilities. If you know you will need special care, you’ll need to choose a facility that offers that level of care. Basic considerations before choosing • Insurance – Is the hospital or birth center in your insurance network? • Your health care provider – Does your provider use this facility? • Location – Is the hospital or birth center close to your home? HOSPITAL OR BIRTH CENTER? Everyone wants to give birth in a safe, comforting environment. Although hospitals are the traditional choice, birth centers are also very popular. Birth centers encourage natural childbirth, based on the philosophy that childbirth is a normal process, not a technical or medical procedure. Birth centers can provide a more homelike, relaxed environment with some of the same medical services as a hospital. Many are run by certified nurse-midwives and staff. A physician may oversee the facility.

Things to consider when choosing a birth center • Does it screen patients and only allow low-risk births? • Does it have backup arrangements with a hospital or physician if there is an emergency? • If I or my baby need extra support, will we be transferred to a hospital? • How long will I stay in the center after I give birth? • Does my insurance cover the cost of this birth center? • Are there LDRs (labor, delivery, and recovery rooms) or LDRPs (labor, delivery, recovery, and postpartum rooms)? • Will my baby stay in the room with me (room-in)? • How many people are allowed in the room during the birth? • What are the visiting hours? • Can my other children visit at any time? • Do children have to be a certain age to visit? • Does it have breastfeeding educators or lactation consultants available? • What kind of security does it have to keep my baby safe? • If I need a cesarean birth , where will it be done and who can be with me? Things to consider when choosing a hospital • Does it offer birthing rooms?

8 Your Guide to Labor and Birth