Sunday, June 11, 2006

The Birth Center

So, the kids (including Brooklyn) and I all went to visit the Birth Center in Redlands. The waiting room has toys and kid videos, and even when they were giving me a tour, the girls at the front desk offered to just watch the kids play while I saw the center. The main birthing room is a large room with a big bed, your own bathroom, a big 'ol whirpool tub, and a washer/dryer because once the baby is born, they wrap the baby in warm towels. There's a kitchen at the center, so you can bring/make any food you want. There are so many statistics...too many to list, about how birthing centers and even home births attended by a skilled birth attendant are twice as safe as hospital births, involve far less medical intervention, and cost far less. So, being my third baby....this would be my choice for where to have this next little bundle of joy.
Only problem? Insurance won't cover it. Isn't that sad? But, we are working on trying to see what we can do....

1 comment:

Jenn said...

Hi Lisa! of course you can ask me questions! After you have the baby... =
what you do next is up to you! You have up to 1 year to get a birth =
certificate, after that, you take the birth certificate to get a Social =
Security Number. This can take several months... So you will want to do =
it well before you do your taxes. But then again it is very easy to =
re-do your taxes later. People with the Unassisted community reccomend =
you take a baby to the records office (To get a birth certificate) when =
they are at least a month old, because they look bigger, more alert and =
healthy.

As for taking the baby to the doctor... I chose to go the next day for a =
nurse visit. Just to get a good weight and length check. Two weeks later =
we will go and see the actual doctor. I am lucky because our local =
doctor resembles a hippy out of an REI catalog. I asked her before hand =
about how comfortable she felt with me bringing a brand new baby to her =
and informed her we were having her at home unassisted. She seemed fine =
with it. We will see on the 27th at our appointment.

There are no laws against unassisted childbirth. But there is a law =
EMTLA (I think) that states that you are in charge at the hospital from =
the moment you enter the parking lot until the placenta is delivered. =
They can reccomend things but cannot do anything without your concent. =
So if you must go... keep that in mind.

Feel free to email me with any questions you have!

Jenn