Homegrown Business Profile
Madison Birth Center
By Tricia Reed
Nationally, 10% of all births are attended by midwives, but in Wisconsin the rate is only half that. The Madison Birth Center in Middleton offers an alternative to hospital birth.
Empowering women to believe in their own instincts and skills when giving birth is what sets Madison Birth Center apart from other birthing options.
Giving birth is a unique and natural experience that women have been successfully accomplishing since the very start of humankind. Aszani Kunkler, founder and director of the Madison Birth Center, felt Middleton was the perfect place to focus on this idea and provide a new yet traditional service to Wisconsin women. In February of 2003 Aszani opened the Madison Birth Center, an oasis of education, empowerment, and support for mothers-to-be.
"Pregnancy is a great time to introduce women to a holistic and healthy lifestyle. It is a time when they are more open to it because it's not just about themselves, it's about their baby," says Kunkler.
The Madison Birth Center practices the Midwives Model of Care, which offers personal, practical and professional care for low-risk pregnant women and their families, while providing a natural birthing alternative.
This method is built on a foundation of respect for both the mother-to-be and her family. It empowers women with the information they need to be partners in the decisions made during their birth process. This is accomplished through education gleamed through various pre-natal classes and multiple hour-long, in-depth prenatal appointments with your nurse-midwife.
"We see women as partners in their birth process and partners in their own healthcare," says Kunkler.
The birth itself takes place in your choice of the birth center or your home and is continually overseen by your now very familiar nurse-midwife. The Madison Birth Center process prepares women to have confidence in their bodies and teaches them natural pain management techniques to navigate labor. In addition all mothers are provided with in-room birthing tubs. The deep whirlpool tubs have 72 air jets and a hand-held sprayer. The tubs help cope with pain and promote ease of movement during labor and birth.
"Wisconsin is under the national average for nurse-midwife attended births. Nationally 10 percent of births are attended by midwives, in Wisconsin it is only 5 percent," states Kunkler.
Safety is a prime concern at Madison Birth Center and there is much evidence to support the safety of births under the care of midwives and birth centers.
"Every study that has compared midwives and obstetricians has found better outcomes for midwives for same-risk patients. In some studies, midwives actually served higher risk populations than the physicians and still obtained lower mortalities and morbidities," writes Madrona, L. and Madrona, M. in The Future of Midwifery in the United States published in 1993.
Nurse-midwife attended births also are shown to result in significantly less cesarean sections and result in higher birth weights. They also incur far fewer interventions and are less likely to require the use of narcotics or epidural anesthesia.
"In every other country except South America and the U.S. 90 percent of births are attended by midwives," states Kunkler.
The Madison Birth Center nurse-midwives all have master's degrees in nursing and are state of Wisconsin certified with independent nurse-prescriber licenses. They also hold CPR and neonatal resuscitation cards, and are certified lactation counselors. However, if an emergency does arise that is beyond a midwife's expertise, all patients are pre-registered at the hospital of their choice to ensure a smooth transfer. The area hospitals are only 13 minutes away from the birth center by ambulance.
In addition to being the only accredited birth center in Wisconsin, Madison Birth Center is also the only "Baby-Friendly" birthing facility in South Central Wisconsin. "Baby-Friendly" is a global standard that recognizes facilities that provide breastfeeding mothers the information, confidence, and skill needed to successfully begin and continue breastfeeding their babies.
"Breastfeeding has many benefits. Mother's have lower rates of uterine and ovarian cancer. Babies have fewer ear infections, colds, flu, and asthma cases. They even have higher IQ's through high school," states Kunkler.
Birth Center births can also be financially beneficial. Statistically being 30-50 percent less expensive than hospital births. Madison Birth Center offers a convenient flat fee payment plan for their clients and also provides a substantial prepayment discount. In addition to reasonable fees Madison Birth Center clients will find that many local independent insurance providers cover birth center births, making Madison Birth Center a very fiscally viable birthing alternative.
Madison Birth Center strives to be a hub and a gathering place for people who seek a holistic parenting community. They provide resources and support for a variety of holistic practices and encourage women to live their whole life naturally not just their pregnancies. That is why Madison Birthing Center also provides women's health care services for all women in all phases of life. From annual physicals to managing menopause, all aspects of woman's wellness can be addressed at Madison Birth Center.
REPRINTED FROM:
Sustainable Times, Vol. II, No. 7
April 2006
