Reasons to Love Toronto Now: because the Toronto Birth Centre makes labour much less laborious
The earth mother craze has reached an apotheosis in Toronto. To accommodate the growing demand for safe, hospital-free childbirths, the Ministry of Health recently opened the Toronto Birth Centre in Regent Park. The new $6-million facility offers a happy halfway point between home and hospital births—patients get the privacy, comfort and custom care they’d have at home, plus medical equipment like oxygen tanks, IV kits, Doppler systems for monitoring the baby’s heart rate and TENS machines for pain control. Birthing centres are considered as safe as hospitals for low-risk births. Their upsides ripple out over the entire health care system, freeing up hospital beds for high-risk pregnancies, reducing unnecessary C-sections and inductions, and saving taxpayers millions every year. But the real beneficiaries are the moms and their babies. Each of the three serene birthing suites is done up like a swank boutique hotel, with an adjustable bed and a free-standing tub specially designed for water births. Women are also encouraged to integrate their own cultural birthing traditions: some Indigenous moms have incorporated smudging ceremonies, sacred songs and drumming circles. More than 300 women have given birth at the centre in its first year. Above, a few of our favourite TBC alumni.
Thanks for the shout out. To be more accurate though, equipment such as oxygen tanks, IV’s and fetal heart dopplers are carried by all midwives at ALL out-of-hospital births. Midwifery clients birthing at home have the same access to all the first-line equipment and treatments available in hospital, for common situations but also emergencies. As well, the research shows that home births, not just birth centres, are as safe or safer than hospital for low-risk cases. What’s not measurable is the amazing vibe when the belief in birth as a powerful, healthy, normal process infuses every aspect of a place, as it does in the TBC.
I gave birth to the first boy at the TBC back in February 2014…It was a water birth and an incredible experience that I will cherish forever. I invite you to read about it here http://babiescrawl.blogspot.ca/2014/02/aleks-arrival-my-birthing-story.html?q=centre