You may want a birthing center birth if...

• The idea of giving birth at home is appealing, but you don't think your home environment is ideal for labor and birth.
• You believe birth is a natural process the human female body evolved/is designed to do unfettered by technology, drugs or even hospitals.
• You trust your body’s ability to labor & birth your child and recovery quickly in the postpartum phase.
• You’re an independent thinker who does your own research.
• You'd like to experience a natural labor and birth, avoiding drugs, IVs, EFMs, over-frequent vaginal examinations and strange hospital personell
• You become anxious in hospitals and/or have had previous traumatic hospital experiences and especially traumatic birth(s).
• Your home is over an hour's drive from any hospital

Opting for mid-wife directed prenatal care at a birthing center allows women a similar level of comfort to staying in a homey woman-centered hotel. Often prerequisite birthing classes will be held at the birthing center.

Look for a midwife who is well-educated, experienced, willing to respectfully answer your questions and has a personality and values that gel well with your own.