Next to the provider you choose to care for you during your pregnancy and birth, your birth place is the next worry most mothers have on their minds.
For me, I had insurance. My insurance didn’t cover for a midwife, or a home birth nor was there a choice to birth anywhere else other than a hospital on O`ahu when I was hāpai.
I had both of my babies at Kapi`olani Hospital, my first experience being a little put off by the need to have a fetal monitor belt on my contracting uterus and the constant questions (which I’d already answered) from a male nurse. Luckily there was a shift change and I had a nurse who I believe may have been a Doula, who turned down the lights, didn’t say a thing, except for when I felt I couldn’t ride with the contractions anymore. She said, “you’ve been doing a great job so far, keep doing your breathing.” Next thing I knew I was ready to push, had my son on me for an hour or more and nursed him til I was ready for him to be “monitored”. My daughter’s birth was my traumatic one and the reason why I do everything I do with birth, education and advocacy. A few minutes before I was ready to push, I felt the need to turn (I was on my back and now I know I needed to turn to help her turn) but the nurse kept pushing my leg down, while the other nurse held my other leg down to the bed I couldn’t move, so I screamed, “this sucks!” There were interns in the room (which I allowed cause I wanted them to see a woman having a baby with no drugs) and I pushed her out so fast she ended up with a bruised eye. So as they whisked her away to be “monitored” though nothing was wrong with her, I yelled at my husband to stay with her. Then I was shocked by ice cold water being sprayed on me to clean while they looked for tearing and when I said it was cold, the nurse just looked at me like it didn’t matter and continued to spray me. I stayed in my room, waiting to see my daughter again, calling every nurse and the nursery to give her to me, when I finally got her back I stood up until they released me (I signed a waiver saying I wanted to leave earlier than the mandatory 24 hours) I couldn’t stay in a place that didn’t have any hot water and I felt violated.
During both pregnancies, I knew I wanted to birth at home, I said it several times during both pregnancies but knew my insurance didn’t cover anything other than my OB and hospitals, so I never did any research. About 2 years after my daughters birth I seen the Business of Being Born and I’ve been a staunch advocate of Midwifery, Doulas, Home Births, Choices and everything in between ever since.
So, here are a few hospitals that I wish I gave birth in and a place on Kaua`i that every mother now, is SO blessed to have as an option. Remember, that just like your provider, you NEED to look around at different places and go with that gut feeling you have that is as ancient as time itself to lead you to the place that is safe for you and your baby:
O`ahu
Kaiser Moanalua- had a dozen Certified Nurse Midwives, water tubs and nurses who are working with CNM’s who are doing more births with less interventions.
Tripler Army Medical Center- some of you may be sitting there in disbelief, but even though they have a notorious past, they do have many Certified Nurse Midwives now available to you. Ask for them and look into the program, you’ll be very glad you did.
Castle Medical Center- though they boast the name, “birth center”, it is a hospital based birth center and not a free standing birth center. Which means that all protocol, procedures and care are similar to that of the main hospital, except this area of the hospital is where you birth. They do have jacuzzi tubs in the labor rooms and the nurses there (that I’ve seen) are wonderful. I recently met with the director and she’s open to having a sharing of the minds with nurses and doulas to form an understanding and working relationship to better the experience of their patients. They also hired a wonderful midwife (second one there) who I LOVE that is bridging the hospital and birthing community.
Think Twice: Think twice and then 3 times before birthing at Kapi`olani and Queen’s unless you are having a high-risk pregnancy or have complications during pregnancy. Queen’s recently stopped ‘allowing’ birth tubs into their hospital. Kapi`olani is set up for high-risk, emergency situations but treat NORMAL pregnancies the same way.
Kaua`i: You Kaua`ians are SO blessed to have Home Birth Kaua`i as an option for birth. www.homebirthkauai.com Has 3 beautiful Midwives; 2 Certified Nurse Midwives and 1 Certified Professional Midwife. The Midwives Alliance of Hawai`i had their annual conference here last weekend (which I was blessed to have attended) and the place is absolutely magnificent.
Maui: From what I’ve heard Maui Memorial Medical Center has a few policies that make you go, “Hmmm” but they are the only hospital serving the entire island. Their cesarean only after a cesarean I hope will change with time but other than that, your only other option is a home birth. There are a few Midwives on Maui, when I get a chance to meet them, I will update here.
Big Island: The Big Island has the North Hawai`i Community Hospital which also has Certified Nurse Midwives to care for pregnant women and recently heard that they are wonderful with women and Midwives who need to transfer from home births. http://www.nhch.com/cms/View.aspx/Show/PregnancyServices
Of course having your baby at home is also always an option if it speaks to you, interview the different home birth midwives in your area.
If there is any suggestions or comments you’d like to make about this list of birthing places, please share!
