Community birth refers to birth that occurs outside of a hospital setting—in homes and birth centers. The care that our midwife and birth assistants provide and the equipment and resources in both settings is similar. Birth outside of a hospital is for healthy, low-risk clients for whom we do not anticipate the need for medical intervention. The team at The Coit House have unique training and experience to support the physiologic process of labor and holistic birthing options.
The Coit House Birth Center
For clients who desire a home-like setting, The Coit House offers two birth rooms with plenty of room for position changes in labor, water birth tubs, family-size beds, and private bathrooms. Clients can expect to stay at The Coit House for 3-4 hours after giving birth. The birth center is an excellent birthing option for those who do not meet criteria for home birth.
Our birth center is accredited by the Commission for Accreditation of Birth Centers (CABC) and is currently pursuing licensure with the NYS Department of Health.
At our natural birthing center, you are surrounded by people you trust in the privacy of an environment that is safe, familiar, and free of excess noise, light, and interruption. You will be free to trust your body to complete a process that is made to unfold without medical intervention.
After the birth, you will enjoy uninterrupted hours of skin-to-skin bonding and the simple pleasures of a nourishing meal, a comfortable bed, and a warm shower. Just as labor, your recovery at our Buffalo birth center will be free of unnecessary monitoring. Instead, necessities such as rest, nutritious food, the support of loved ones, and close proximity to your baby will be attainable.
Home Birth
Effective in 2024, we are no longer accepting clients for planned home birth. Our birth center is an excellent alternative, offering “home birth in another home” without the typical home birthing responsibilities to provide supplies, fill a large tub with limited hot water supply, do laundry, or clean up. We support many of the desires people planning home birth would want, including autonomous decision-making, hydrotherapy and water birth, and welcoming sibling involvement during labor and birth.
While most birthing people who prepare for natural childbirth outside of the hospital go on to do so, some people will develop risks or desires during pregnancy or labor that make hospital birth more appropriate. In this case, while we do not have admitting privileges at area hospitals, we can help facilitate a safe transfer of care outside of our natural birthing center. Generally, our clients are very satisfied with the seamless care they receive in the event a hospital transfer is indicated or desired, and most return to us for their postpartum care.
If an urgent complication develops at home, such as a postpartum hemorrhage or a baby that requires assistance breathing after birth, the midwife is prepared with much of the same emergency medications and supplies that are found in the hospital. Nonetheless, the decision to undertake a home birth, water birth, or holistic birth at our natural birthing center comes with significant commitment and responsibility.
Water Birth
Soaking in a water birth tub during labor and birth is safe and provides a number of benefits including:
- Pain relief
- Relaxation and reduced anxiety
- Support for position changes and mobility
- Reduced risk of severe vaginal tears
- Decreased stress of birth for the baby
Water birth tubs are available in both rooms at The Coit House.
”I am extremely grateful that I could have the birthing experience that I truly wanted. I felt respected and supported but also free to really dive into myself, and rely on my own instincts and strength in myself to complete the journey from start to finish.
ChristinaFika Midwifery Client
