Welcome to the Charleston Birth Place blog! We've created this forum as a tool for our moms-to-be, new moms, and others to share experiences and ask questions.
About us:
Charleston Birth Place is the Lowcountry's only free-standing birth center. Our center is independently owned by our nurse-midwife. All care is provided by certified nurse-midwives, using traditional midwifery principles. Midwives are experts in caring for healthy women experiencing normal pregnancies. Our clients receive a level of personal attention and quality of care that is unparallelled in today's healthcare environment. We attend births at Trident Regional Medical Center and in our beautiful new birth center. Our care is safe, cost-effective and provides families with truly exceptional birth experiences. We invite you to learn how you can give your baby the best start in life - by birthing with Charleston Birth Place!
Charleston Birth Place also offers gentle, comprehensive health care for women throughout their lives - including primary care, gynecology, annual exams, menopause treatment, preconception counseling, contraception, massage therapy and lactation consult services.
Please visit our website at http://www.charlestonbirthplace.com/
19 comments:
Yay!!! I'm so excited about this. I think that this is going to provide a lot of insight to women who think that they may want to have a birth center birth, but have some reservations as well. I can't wait to share my experience with other women that are interested in having their babies at the birth center!
I just recently had my son, Ethan at the birth center, on 7/26. I must say I would definitely do this again and if I convince my husband to have one more, will definitely have my next child here. I almost broke down several times and thought that I couldn't handle it, but through it all Lesley and Erica were very patient and stubborn right along with me and refused to let me give up. What resulted was a beautiful, vibrant, and healthy baby boy, the product of an unmedicated birth. I owe a lot to these ladies, and am very appreciative of what they've done for me and my family.
Susie, congratulations on you new baby boy! I have 3 boys myself - boys are awesome! I don't know if you are a 1st time mom or not, but what is so cool about this blog is that you have support from other people who have had a similar experience as you. I'm confident there will be a lot of mommies posting and answering any questions you might have. All of the staff at the birth center are awesome and I am so glad you had a good experience.
Well, I must say - I'm surprised we haven't had more posts. So, I'm going to share my little testimony and put some questions out there and see what happens.
I don't know that I will ever be able to relay how awesome this experience was for me and my husband. In 2001, I delivered my second child naturally - in the hospital - and I have wanted natural child birth ever since then, even if it meant being strapped down to a bed, connected to monitors and an IV. In January, when I heard that the birth center was open, my husband and I quickly and easily made the decision to transfer. This was by far the best desicion we have ever made concerning the births of our children, especially since this is our fourth and final child.
I have always wanted a water birth, I think just because I thought it would be really cool, but somewhere around four in the morning I realized it was way more than just cool, it was actually very warm and very soothing during contractions. My body was so relaxed, I was literally falling asleep during contractions. (Did this happen to anyone else?) Prior to getting in the pool, I was able to sit on the birthing ball, walk, and do whatever made me comfortable. I can't tell you how many laps I did around the boutique! I was able to eat and drink to keep up my strength, which was a blessing because by the time I delivered I had been up for more than twenty-four hours.
On March 1st, at 7:05am, I gave birth to our first little girl Zoe Beth. I thank God for Lesley and all of the staff at the birth center. In the ten years that I had been with my OB - I had never felt as comfortable and at home as I have at The Charleston Birth Place. For those of you who have already made up your minds and you are going to deliver here, I am so excited for you. I hope that you have an amazing experience just like I did. If you have any questions, I encourage you to post them.
Also, those of you who attended the New Mothers Tea in July - I talked to Lesley and we discussed doing them on a monthly or quarterly basis. Is anyone interested in this? We also talked about not having a guest speaker but instead inviting moms that are about to deliver so that they can talk to those of us that have and really kick some questions out there to get conversation started. I hope this is something that everyone is interested in and I hope to see some posts too!
Lesley Keelin
I check the post periodically and I too was surprised that there were not more posts. I am looking forward to the next tea event. I had my daughter Ana on June 12, and she is wonderful. Unfortunately we had to transfer to the hospital, after a day of labor, but I had similar feelings about the water labor experience. I never fell asleep though or even got close, but I found the pool very relaxing throughout transition. The birth team was excellent as well, and the time went by very quickly. The transfer went well I thought, and Lesley and Erica stayed with me throughout the birth. I had a healthy 8 lb. girl and my husband and I were very surprised to get a girl. I hope more people do write in. I met some really nice people at the last event.
I am so excited to see a Birth Center available in Charleston.(my husband is from there and his family still lives there) Although I am long past childbearing years, I was fortunate enough to work in a free standing birth center in Chattanooga,TN in the 1980s. It was a wonderful experience. I currently live in Columbus,GA and work in a hospital as an IBCLC and Bradley Method instructor. There are no birth centers avaible in this community and only one in the whole state of GA. Women need options....we have several CNMs who practice in the hospital here and would love a birth center available but no doctor in town who will provide back-up to out of hospital births. Glad to see another community has this worked out.
Best wishes on the success of your center.
Debi Miller, RN,AAHCC,IBCLC
I just had a beautiful little girl at the Charleston Birth Place. The entire experience was a blessing. I was not a first time mom. After giving birth in a hospital, confined to a bed, with no control of what was going on, I decided that was not the way my children should be brought into the world. Even though I was referred to the Birth Place late in my pregnancy, I knew it was the right decision for our family. They not only accepted our birth plan, but they encouraged us having one. Leslie even provides literature and media touching all aspects of parenthood. Everyone on staff there makes the experience beautiful. My daughter Dolce' was born on 7/28/08. She is a very happy baby. I feel that her entrance into the world is part of the reason.
I will be honest, it hurt, and i definitely was NOT falling asleep lol...However, i did notice a difference, the contractions in the water seemed a little more bearable and with a little more time to catch my breath than out of the water. It was also nice b/c it seemed like a sort of cocoon and safe bubble for me and my husband, like our own private and protected area. I would definitely attend every month with Ethan if the teas were held monthly, or quarterly if that was the case. I am going to drop by on october 11though to show Lesley how Ethan is growing, but will not be staying long as he is no longer breastfed, so it is somewhat of a bumming issue for me. My labor went remarkably fast, and I only missed my due date by an hour and 17 minutes lol. My water had been slowly leaking all day, but officially broke with noticable gushing at 7:30pm friday night. I told my husband to finish what he was doing, and then we'd need to go and call Lesley. We made it to the birth center at 10:30, and I was 6cm by 11, and 9cm by 12:30, and pushing shortly thereafter until Ethan was born at 1:17am on the 26th, which isn't bad I'm told for my first baby. My husband was quite surprised when we got there as he didn't think we'd be in Charleston all night, however i told him: "Um unless you want to deliver Ethan at home, yes we are, but if you doubt me ask Lesley" He did ask Lesley as it turns out and they said my membranes were ruptured and I wasn't going anywhere until I had the baby. After getting a little bit of a nap, while my mom and husband were asleep, I held my son and officially rocked him back to sleep while singing to him for the first time. It was definitely a memorable experience for all 4 of us, my mom included. My husband had not gotten to cut the cord with his last son, and was at first nervous to cut mine because noone had ever told him there were no nerve endings in it so he wasn't hurting either of us, but happily he did cut the cord. It was really funny too when I first got there b/c i told my husband and Lesley that I'd never been so happy to pee my pants. Exactly how I said it, b/c that's what it felt like when my water broke lol.
I agree with Desiree as well, after watching my bestfriend Dawn give birth to her son in the hospital, and not getting to have as much control over the whole experience, I was bound and determined to find a way to fix that before it came time for me to deliver. Especially after one of the nurses quite rudely told me that if i didn't want pacifiers or bottles used on my son i "need to go to the birth center they are opening up b/c you can actually control that over there". Call me crazy but i thought i had a say in that matter at a hospital too, so that right there started my search for an alternate route, just so no negative people would be handling my son. I actually found the birthplace on accident by doing a googlesearch for 'waterbirth'. I'd always wanted to give waterbirth a try since I was a little girl b/c i thought it would be "neato" to give birth in the water. Luckily my husband was able to make it home early one week to attend the orientation with me, as i wouldn't have switched otherwise, b/c i wanted to make sure he met who was taking care of me and his baby (i thought he should have that right as the father, after all i wouldn't have my son without him :P). I asked my mom what it looked like when my son came out, since she had a better view. She said that she couldn't see much, but he seemed to float right up like a "little submarine". lol, and fastforward to 2months from then and my "little submarine" is asleep fast in his crib. i owe lesley and erica a lot! thankyou so much for having the fortitude to open such a wonderful place! Btw to further indicate just how much this whole experience changed my life, besides the beautiful baby boy, I have since changed my career path. When Ethan starts school (i know it's a ways off lol) i plan to go to school to persue my RN degree and then to apply to MuSC's midwifery program. I'd love to help other mothers have the same wonderful experience and spread the word that there are more ways to give birth than just strapped to a bed, and help other women take back the birth experience with pride. After all, women have given birth without hospitals for hundreds of years :P.
Amen, Susie!!! My little sister had her son a month after I had Zoe - it was ridiculous! He was in the room with them for not quite an hour and then they took him to the nursery for a good four hours - because they were backed up! When I had my second son, he came so fast that they didn't even have me registered and the nursery was unprepared for him - and because of that they let him stay with me to keep him warm. It wasn't skin to skin though, I think that makes a big difference. I guess they don't do that when the nursery is backed up! Hospitals are so concerned about liability that they forget about the birth experience and parents being able to bond with their babies. I've had three hospital experiences and the birth center birth supercedes all of them by a long shot. I, too, want to persue midwifery when my kids get older. It is just such an amazing experience, that you want to share it with everyone.
my friend didn't even get to have her skin to skin contact with her baby during her whole 3 day stay! RIDICULOUS! I had a good 5-10mins with my baby before lesley KINDLY said, we need to get you out of the water and cleaned up so we can get the baby warm, and she also added that it would be a good time to let daddy bond with him, and once everyone was dressed and ready for sleep, lesley brought out the cosleeper and let us sleep in the same bed, which made me feel very comfortable sleeping with my new little family
Hi ladies,
I'm so happy to read all the wonderful experiences on here. Congrats to you all! I'm due with my first on 11/7. I'm trying not to let the nerves get to me. Reading your blogs has helped. I'm so glad I found Leslie and the CBP!
number one advice: don't tense, if you tense you'll feel pain, and you'll make it 10 times worse than what it really is...the contractions where i didn't tense b/c my husband reminded me to relax, were SO MUCH easier than the others
I am SO very happy to know that the birth center, and this wonderful family of women exist to facilitate natural birth, without unnecessary intervention.
I had my baby at home in June 2007 and my best friend is scheduled to give birth at the center. I am so happy that she has planned to surround herself with such a supportive and knowlegable team for her birth.
The tub IS THE MIDWIFE'S EPIDURAL. Seriously. It is amazing how it relaxes muscles, helps skin stretch, and allows great bouyancy so birthing mom can easily find the position that is best for her. I HIGHLY recommend a birthing tub for any and all births.
Also, I just finished an amazing book called "Baby Catcher" by Peggy Vincent. Its a beautiful collection of short stories about actual natural births by a nurse turned homebirth midwife. It will program your brain to believe that a gentle birth IS POSSIBLE.
I think I've rambled on enough. I'm just so happy for the Birth Center and wish you every success in your business.
Hello! I am Judy Osborne, the Certified Nurse Midwife that recently joined the birth center. I have cared for women and delivered over 1300 babies in a hospital setting for 10 years. I have always believed that in normal, healthy pregnancies, the baby should choose its birthday, and laboring women should be able to do what their bodies tell them to do. I am so excited to leave the "rat race". Because of Lesley's hard work and determination I can now labor mamas and delivery babies in a safe,comfortable and beautiful birth center. Also,I plan to continue seeing women for their annual gyn visits. I look forward to meeting the women/partners who choose the Charleston Birth Place. Many thanks to Lesley, Renee, Mary, Lauren and the nursing staff for making me feel so welcome!!
I was blessed to be witness to a birth at the Birth Place this past weekend, with the CMN Lesley. THIS is the way that low-risk birth SHOULD BE. No medical interventions, no interference, no drama. Just letting the mother do what she needs to do to birth her baby in the most calm, safe, relaxing environment possible. The expertise and awareness of the entire staff was enlightening. Every pregnant woman should at the very least, TOUR this facility and see take the first steps toward a gentle birth experience. THANK YOU CHARLESTON BIRTH PLACE!!!
Hello everyone! Baby Paul and I had a great time at the Thanksgiving Luncheon today. I love to see everyone's babies grow and change, and to hear about the wide range of birth experiences we have all had a CBP.
I had so much fun at the luncheon and I can't wait to do it again! Ethan loved it too!
I am very excited about the upcoming BeadParty...I've already seen several pieces that I love, and I can't wait to help out a good cause not to mention see how quickly the other babies are growing up.
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