A few years ago I visited Dar a Luz, the only free-standing birth centre in New Mexico. It looks nothing like the towering urban hospitals I have spent my career working in. Nestled into a valley at the outskirts of Albuquerque, Dar a Luz is more like an earthy homestead. At the perimeter, a wood fence surrounds a sun-drenched courtyard with a rock garden and a footpath that expecting mothers pace while in labour.
Inside the birthing rooms are bathed in the same natural light, with open spaces designed to encourage continuous movement. Beds are in the corners of the rooms rather than the central feature. Abigail Lanin Eaves, the executive director of the birth centre and a certified nurse midwife, explained that, at Dar a Luz, her patients arrive in labour walking?and usually stay that way until after the baby is born. The beds are for resting afterwards, rarely for labour or the birth itself. Each year approximately 20,000 Americans choose to give birth out of bed, which usually requires giving birth out of hospitals. According to the CDC, centres like Dar a Luz have become 83% more popular over the last decade. Yet millions of Americans still choose to give birth bed-bound, on their backs, with their knees up, legs spread, feet in the air. I attended the deliveries of thousands of babies before I ever wondered why.
The rock garden?lovingly referred to as the Labor-inth?at Dar a Luz birth centre in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
As an obstetrician/gynecologist, this position is ...