A lack of birthing options in North St. Louis County, negative experiences during previous labor and deliveries, as well as the desire to bring new life into the world the natural way is making some healthy women with low-risk pregnancies choose birthing centers or opt for home births.
SSM DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton, Mo. is the nearest hospital to North St. Louis County that offers maternity care. A BJC Christian Hospital representative said its facility offers pediatric ER services but does not have pediatric or obstetric programs.
Serving the needs of women in a manner that is safe, satisfying and respectful of their individual needs is part of the mission of the Birth and Wellness Centers, where women can receive prenatal care in a peaceful, home-like environment in its Ferguson location. At the center located in O’Fallon, women, can get prenatal care and deliver their babies in one of two birthing rooms. Moms can also choose to birth at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in West St. Louis County, where a center midwife has birthing privileges.
The nurses, nurse midwives and doulas at the center support women throughout their pregnancy, labor, delivery and postpartum. They are also trained to recognize when emergency outside medical intervention is necessary during a labor and delivery, in which case, mothers are transferred to a hospital nearest to the O’Fallon location.
Brittany Tru Campbell is the executive director of its center in Ferguson. She said the center is there for underserved women in North St. Louis County area – mothers and families who experience income, cultural and educational barriers.
“A lot of these families are three to four times more likely to experience some type of harm or some type of mortality – whether it is infant, maternal mortality due to those issues,” Campbell explained, “so the community Birth and Wellness Center provides care by having qualified birth professionals – which are midwives. And they also make sure that every woman who wants a doula – or education and emotional support has one.”
Doulas provide mothers with emotional and physical support during the pregnancy, birth and postpartum period while the midwife is the skilled professional in low-risk pregnancy and birth and who actually delivers babies.
“The primary role of the doula is to be there for the mothers, babies and their partner during pregnancy, birth and post-partum,” Campbell explained. “Usually, we are there to offer comfort measures, different positioning ideas and education throughout the course of pregnancy and postpartum.
“What I love about doulas – it’s like having your own personal assistant or person that’s there to assist you if you want to have a birth with low intervention,” she described. “Sometimes, if you go into birth uneducated and you’re in a hospital, there could be a lot of intervention based on how the hospital regulates birth, which can cause issues with mother and baby.”
Issues like high rates of cesarean births.
“Mothers actually have the option to say. ‘No, I don’t want this medication that can lead to cesareans,’ so doulas have to advocate for mothers and also help to bring fathers closer to mom and baby during the labor,” Campbell said.
The center also provides educational classes to help alleviate issues that families with such barriers may face.
“We offer childbirth education classes, breastfeeding support and we’ll also host sexual education classes this coming summer,” she added. They also offer free pregnancy testing on Thursdays and free walk-in breastfeeding support.
Campbell said the Ferguson center sees seven to eight moms weekly on Thursdays (the only day they are open) and it expects to see about 30 moms over the next nine months. Jazmine McDonald will soon give birth at the birthing center and gets prenatal care there as well.
“One of my spiritual sisters gave birth at the birthing center before and she was telling me about her experience and how easy it was from a hospital birth. I always thought I wouldn’t want a hospital birth. I wanted something different,” McDonald said. “I went up there and talked to them and it seemed like it was something I always wanted.
“I just never trusted the hospitals, because of all the stories I heard … I just trust the natural way of things.”
New mom Leslie Dudley adopted a natural, simpler lifestyle a few years ago. When she was expecting, Dudley created a birthing plan that included soothing music, a yoga ball for pelvic rotations during contractions and delivering her son at the O’Fallon birthing center.
“I wanted to have the most natural birth possible and I decided on a water birth, because I realized that the position in which we labor is extremely hard on us when we lay on our backs,” Dudley said. “In the water, it really relaxes our contractions and it allows for the baby to really come out on his or her own, with us relaxing our bodies and allowing our bodies to naturally release the baby.”
Campbell, a certified doula, lactation counselor and midwife-in-training, built a rewarding career out of creating positive birthing experiences for women after her own two negative birthing experiences as a teen in junior high and high school.
“My first two children were cesarean section and it was very unnecessary. I was uneducated with my first son and was totally taken advantage of,” Campbell said. “I was induced unfairly … Because I didn’t have an advocate, didn’t have a doula, I didn’t know I had the right,” of refusal.
“Later, when I found out I was able to request my records, I found out my doctor had a vacation coming up – so it was convenient for her,” Campbell said.
A few years later for the birth of second child – Campbell had a different doctor and a different hospital – and another unwanted cesarean delivery.
“I said, ‘Hey, I want to have my baby vaginally,’ and she said, ‘No, you are high risk, you have to have another cesarean,’” Campbell said. “And something within me knew this wasn’t true, but because I didn’t want a male or a white woman doctor, she was my only option because of Medicaid and transportation barriers.”
Campbell said every woman without health risks (which she had none) are entitled to a trial birth – which means going through the labor process and with cesarean as a last choice. She didn’t get that option with the first two children.
“At that moment, after they cut me with my second baby, I said you will never cut me again, and this was in 2005.” That’s when Campbell began educating herself on the natural birthing methods.
In 2011, it took interviewing three midwives before she found one that was willing to journey with her for a gentler, natural birth for her third child. After two cesareans, Campbell chose a home birth for her third son.
“I had him in about two pushes; my labor was about eight hours, if that and it was very beautiful,” Campbell said.
Becky Pagano of St. Louis was not a client of the birthing center. A healthy woman with an uncomplicated pregnancy, Pagano decided to have her baby at home after her obstetrician blew off her questions about birthing options.
“She was so condescending,” Pagano said. “She asked me, “Now, why do you want to have a home birth? I opened my mouth to respond, and she said, ‘Never mind,’ and went on to say all of the reasons why I should not do it.
“The look in her eye – the way she dismissed me is the reason why I had a home birth.”
Pagano and her husband turned their bathtub into a warm water birthing pool. She also interviewed three midwives before choosing the one for her child’s birth. Her husband played music and sang to her during her labor. She appreciated that the midwife stayed in the background for the most part. The Paganos delivered a healthy baby boy at home – an experience she describes as “blissful.”
“The best part for me was right after birth, I went to my bed, and we just didn’t leave our little paradise for three days,” Pagano said. “It was really blissful.”
This was their first baby, and if the family decides on other children, they will be born at home.
For more information on the Birth and Wellness Center, visit https://www.mybirthandwellness.com.
