Exploring Birth Centers in Portland, Oregon

Giving birth is such a transformative and special experience. For many women in Portland, an option to consider is giving birth at a local birth center. Let’s explore the benefits of choosing a birth center for your delivery and guide you through finding the right fit for you and your baby.

What Is A Birth Center?

A birth center is an independent or freestanding facility designed specifically for providing maternity services and delivering babies. They typically provide care throughout the entire pregnancy with experts specializing in midwifery, prenatal care, childbirth education, breastfeeding classes, nutrition counseling and more.

The most important difference between a hospital-based labor and delivery unit and an independent birthing center is that the latter has greater flexibility to create a unique environment tailored to individual needs rather than following rigid protocols. During labor and delivery at a birthing center, women can take advantage of alternative comfort measures such as water immersion, aromatherapy, massage, etc.

Benefits Of Choosing A Birth Center

There are several advantages to choosing a birth center over other types of health care facilities where you can give birth:

• Low intervention approach – The care providers at most birthing centers tend to be comfortable with less frequent interventions during labor; this allows for more freedom in terms of movement during labor rather than lying on your back.
• Comfort measures – As mentioned above, there are often alternative comfort measures available at birthing centers such as water immersion (e.g., birthing pool), aromatherapy/oil diffusers and massage tables which can help make labor more bearable without increasing risk factors associated with medical procedures like epidurals.
• Home-like, comfortable atmosphere – The rooms at birth centers often look and feel like. a cozy room at home. And many centers offer accommodations like couches or beds so that partners can also sleep comfortably — something that isn’t always available at hospitals.

Finding The Right Fit For You In Portland

When considering which birth center might be right for you in Portland there are some key things you should look for:

• Do their offerings match up with what matters most to you? (For example: does the center offer water immersion options?)
• Are their policies flexible enough to accommodate different preferences (natural vs medication)?
• What fees are associated with their services and will my health insurance cover it?

It’s also important to talk directly with care providers from each potential option; ask them questions about how they practice childbirth so that you can get an understanding both their philosophy as well as specific details about how delivery will happen logistically once you go into labor.

Ultimately, choosing the right place where you feel comfortable giving birth should come down to what type of atmosphere best suits your needs.

Make an appointment to visit, meet the providers and see which one you feel most comfortable with!

Andaluz Waterbirth Center
https://www.waterbirth.net/

The Bridge Birth Center (Vancouver)

https://bridgebirth.com/about-the-bridge-birth-center/