An Insight into the Advantages and Disadvantages of Birth Centers

With technology on the rise and an increased experience from the past there is now a confusing array of choices that the pregnant mother has to deliver her baby (Harding, 2003). These models affect the type of care she receives, the location of her birth, the type of birth she endures, the people that surround her and also the care her baby will receive in an emergency. The social, emotional, spiritual and physical health determinants will all be affected relative to the model of care that is chosen. The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the advantages and disadvantages of birth centers, specifically participating in group practice midwifery and analyse how this affects a pregnant mother’s holistic health and the babies. Group practice in birth centers are midwifery-based forms of care and provide many benefits including, continuity of care, excellent shared decision making and cost. However this model of care does pose some problems including the lack of pain medication and whether birthing centers are the safest option for both mother and child. Other models of care including obstetric models place less emphasis on continuity of care and therefore marginalize the mother’s holistic health. For example public obstetric care still provides the mother with antenatal care but the mother could see a different obstetrician each time she has a check up. This results in no form of relationship with the team who will deliver her baby, which affects the mothers social and emotional health determinants. Birthing centers contrast this model by providing the same team of midwives throughout the entire pregnancy. This method therefore heightens the mother’s confidence in her team and all members of the team have an understanding of the mother choices rather than duplicating information as seen in shared maternity care.
The first birthing center was opened in 1945 and was called “La Casita”. It was located in rural New Mexico to provide a birthing place for