Home Birth or Birth Center?

Your choice of birth space with our midwives!

VCM has the pleasure of being able to serve families desiring to birth at home or the Bridge Birth Center.

SCHEDULE A FREE CONSULTATION WITH OUR MIDWIVES

The choice of where to give birth is a deeply personal one. It's about comfort, trust, support & more. We will help you discern the right birth space for your growing families.

Your Home Birth Option

People choose to give birth in their home for a variety of reasons. Being in the comfort of your own home can allow you to sink into a place of vulnerability and unselfconsciousness that can help you do the work of labor and birth in an empowering way. Being in your own space encourages you to listen to your intuition and move you body mindfully to birth your baby. At home, you are able to have the support of friends and family as you see fit.

Your Birth Center Option

Vancouver’s only freestanding birth center offers all the comforts of birthing at home, without it actually being in your home. Equipped with all the tools for safe, low risk births, birth centers are your home-away-from-home. Comfortable beds and large tubs for both labor and birth help create a cozy environment to welcome your little one. Families and other support people are encouraged to wear masks while in the birthing room and are required to wear masks while in the kitchen and other public spaces.

Fully equipped for whatever your birth may need, BBC offers three unique and private birth suites. Each suite holds a luxurious birthing tub, a spacious shower, and cozy beds so you can dance through labor in your own unique way. Located in the Minnehaha neighborhood in Vancouver, BBC is centrally located.

Vancouver WA Birth Center midwife with newborn baby

Learn more about the safety and research behind community-based birth:

Generally speaking, home and birth-center are as safe as hospitals for low-risk, healthy people.

Birth safety begins long before the actual birth. Eating a clean diet, moving your body meaningfully, managing stress in healthy ways, coming to all of your prenatal appointments and preparing for childbirth and parenting mindfully are ways that you can stay healthy and safe. VCM midwives will monitor your health and be doing risk assessments at every visit to make sure that you stay healthy and low-risk.

The largest study of planned, midwife-attended home birth suggests that birth in a community setting (home or birth center) is safe for low-risk birthing parents who are attended by a skilled provider.

Outcomes of the study included...

Most families who plan a community birth have a community birth (89.1%)
Most families who plan a community birth have a vaginal birth (93.6%)
Most families planning a community birth are exclusively breastfeeding at 6 weeks (97.7%)
The primary reason for transfer of care in labor is an arrest of labor progress, and urgent transports for fetal distress are rare.
About 5.2% of parents planning a community birth ultimately give birth by cesarean in a hospital.

A recent study of planned community-based birth in Washington state found that rates of adverse outcomes with well-established and integrated community midwifery were overall low.

What happens if there is a complication?

If at anytime during your care with us a complication arises, we consult with a higher level provider and transfer care. We are not “home/birth center birth or bust”, we are “empowered birth or bust”. Safety is our number 1 priority.

Prenatal complications: When complications develop during the prenatal period, we would consult with the CNM group at The Vancouver Clinic to see if we could do a direct midwife-to-midwife transfer of care. If the condition is more complex and needs to be managed by a physician, then we would consult with Legacy Maternal Fetal Medicine and transfer care.

Labor complications: When complications develop during labor, or if the laboring person needs pain management, we would consult with the CNM group at The Vancouver Clinic to see if we could do a direct midwife-to-midwife transfer of care. If the condition is more complex and needs to be managed by a physician, then we would consult with Legacy Salmon Creek/Peace Health Southwest OB Hospitalist and transfer care.

Postpartum/Newborn complications: When complications develop during the postpartum/newborn period, we would consult a Pediatric/OB Hospitalist and transfer care.

Since its' inception, VCM has worked to build bridges between community midwives and the medical community. We have helped successfully launch the Smooth Transitions program at Legacy Salmon Creek and Peace Health Southwest. Smooth Transitions is a quality improvement program designed to help facilitate transfers during labor to improve outcomes. We worked hand in hand with the The Vancouver Clinic Certified Nurse Midwife Group to create a protocol to facilitate direct midwife-to-midwife transfers.

In case of an emergency, we carry:

Antihemorrhagic medications (Pitocin, Misoprostol, Methergine, TXA)
Epinephrine
Magnesium Sulfate
Terbutaline
Oxygen

We are also trained in CPR and Neonatal resuscitation.

What is the difference between free-standing birth center and a hospital-based birth center?

A free standing birth center is a facility, not associated with a hospital, that is managed by Midwives and based off of the Midwifery Model of Care where people give birth. Freestanding birth centers cater to low risk, healthy people who wish to have an unmedicated natural birth. It’s basically a home birth in someone else’s home.

The American Public Health Association has adopted Guidelines for Licensing and Regulating Birth Centers which states that a birth center is: “Any health facility, place or institution which is not a hospital or in a hospital and where births are planned to occur away from the mother's residence following normal, uncomplicated pregnancy”

Freestanding Birth Center

Whom they serve: Low risk healthy people
Philosophy of care: Based off of the Midwifery Model of Care
Type of birth: Supports uninterrupted, physiological natural birth
Pain relief: Women-led intuitive positioning, large birth tubs and showers, nitrous oxide
Cared for by: Licensed Midwives, Birth Assistants, Student Midwives
Surgical birth (vaccuum, forceps, cesarean): No

Hospital-based “Birth Center”

Whom they serve: Low and high risk people
Philosophy of care: Based off of the medical model of care
Type of birth: Supports medicalized birth for high risk people
Pain relief: Pharmacological methods (epidural, pain meds)
Cared for by: Nurses, Certified Nurse Midwives, Doctors
Surgical birth (vaccuum, forceps, cesarean): Yes

Who is a good candidate for community-based birth?

BOOK YOUR FREE INITIAL CONSULT