Categories: For Parents

 What is a birth center?  It is...

• People: Parents and professionals creating family-centered care.
• Place:Caring, warm and homelike setting where you are supported and respected as well as safe and secure.
• Program of Care: Balancing the human touch and technology to give you the time and attention you need before, during and after the birth.
• Part of the Health Care System: Complete network of maternity and women's health services covered by major health insurance plans.
• Practice of Midwifery: Provided by any qualified provider who practices a wellness and holistic approach to pregnancy, birth, and women�s health care.

The American Association of Birth Centers (aka The National Association of Childbearing Centers) can help you to find a birth center in your community. On their web site, www.BirthCenters.org, you can find fun things such as the birth center theatre and birth stories.

Here is a list of birth centers with websites that you can visit:

Birthing Naturally, Rae Andrews, CNM, 10520 Meadowglen, Houston, TX 77042
email birthingnat@pdq.net

The Borning Room Birth Center, 234 Washington Street, Keene, NH 03431; 603-352-0418; state-licensed midwife-owned freestanding birthcenter in southwest New Hampshire.

Columbia Women's Clinic & Birth Center, Kennewick WA

Elizabeth Seton Childbearing Center, 222 W. 14th St., New York, New York 10011, 212-367-8500, email escbc@aol.com.

Family Centered Maternity Care, Debra DuBois, CNM, 713 N. Bishop Ave, Dallas, TX 75208, 214-943-2470, midwife@fcmcdallas.com, http://www.fcmcdallas.com

Lisa Ross Birth & Women's Center, 1925-B Ailor Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37921, 865.524.4422

Longmeadow Farm Midwifery Service & Birthing Home, 585 Hopkinton Rd., Hopkinton NH 03229, 603-224-0049

Natchez Trace Maternity Center, 720 Highway 99, PO Box 974, Waynesboro, TN 38485-0974, 1-931- 722-BABY (722-2229), or toll-free,1-877-270-BABY (2229).