Nicole Beddoe delivered her daughter, Savannah, in one of the low-intervention rooms at MU Health Care's Family Birth Center. Although she says she had always been interested in having a natural childbirth without medication, she didn’t want to have a home birth — she wanted the security of delivering in a hospital.
“When I heard about the program, I was really excited because it was the best of both worlds,” Beddoe said.
It was the laid-back approach of her provider, Certified Nurse Midwife Lori Anderson, that helped put Beddoe at ease. Anderson was happy to spend time talking through options.
“She talks to you about procedures, tests … about your options and the advantages and disadvantages,” Beddoe said. “She really stressed the evidence-based aspect. If I asked a question, she would talk things through with me. You basically decide what you want to do.”
Beddoe’s doula was also in the low-intervention room during the labor and delivery. Beddoe delivered on the birthing stool. Then she got to lie in the big bed holding her daughter while she recovered, and she began breastfeeding in the room before being moved to the postpartum floor.
‘The program and the personnel supported the very experience that I desired’
Julianna Campbell gave birth to her first child in her home, and though the Springfield resident was considering another home birth during her second pregnancy, she was hospitalized with an illness and reconsidered. While in the hospital in Springfield, Campbell began researching her options, a search that led her to MU Health Care. She felt it was the safest choice, but she still wanted to have control over her birth experience.
“I had some skepticism,” Campbell said. “I thought, ‘Can I have the experience I want in the hospital?’ ” Her daughter Nouvelle was born July 31, 2017, and Campbell says the experience exceeded her expectations.
“I genuinely felt like the program and the personnel supported the very experience that I desired,” she said.
Campbell particularly enjoyed the low-intervention suite. “I feared being in the hospital,” she said, “but the size of the room and the way they make it home-like, that really did help with feeling relaxed.”