Puget Sound Midwives & Birth Center

I had the opportunity to be a doula for my best friend’s labor and she decided to give birth her. After reflecting on my experience with the midwives, I realized I needed to write a review. I would not ever go here for my labor or delivery, so I figure I need to share our story.
My friend was 12 hours into labor and crying and ready for some comfort measures beyond what her apartment could offer. Despite this, the midwives did not encourage her to come in. They basically wanted her to only arrive when she was ready to push. I really feel like that birth tubs are just for show, I am curious how many women actually are offered the chance to use them.
After 24 hours of labor, the midwives asked us to come in so my friend could be checked. She was 4cmm and fully effaced but for her first baby, I thought she was progressing fine. However, immediately, the midwives wanted to speed her along. They tried a variety of techniques, including castor oil which made her sick, but none of them seemed to help. Her contractions were more spaced out, about every 6 minutes (slower than they had been so maybe this was making the midwives rush us). I still did not understand what the rush was. Her vitals and the baby’s heart sounds were fine. But the midwives were impatient and continued to try and speed things up. After being at the birth center for only 6 hours, they decided to transfer her to Evergreen. Once at Evergreen, the doctor checked her and she was 9 cm! The midwives were shocked! They had not bothered to check her a second time, they just assumed she was not progressing.
At Evergreen, we actually got the care we should have gotten at the birth center. They did not force any interventions on her, they affirmed that she was doing beautifully, they confirmed that everyone’s vitals were great and they used a plethora of birthing positions to keep my friend comfortable. 6 hours after arriving at Evergreen, her baby boy was born.
I am left with many questions for the midwives. Why should any woman go to you when you did the absolute stereotypical things that people do not like about hospitals? You had a time agenda and when this first time mom deviated (oh darn, Mother Nature) from you time agenda, you pressured her into more and more interventions for your convenience. Why? How many women are actually offered the beautiful tubs? From the way it appeared, you wanted this to happen as quick as possible so you could go back to bed.
Another note about Evergreen– when we arrived, the nurses asked about the birth plan and were terrific in honoring her vision. They did not push any interventions onto her or the baby that she did not want. They were just so much more supportive at the hospital, it felt like a weird time warp where the midwives put us on their pressured time agenda and the hospital just wanted to be a good birth companion.
Honestly, if I had to give birth tomorrow, I would 100% choose Evergreen over the Puget Sound birth center. You guys really dropped the ball on this one.

Couldn’t ask for better care. I switched to this center at 36 weeks pregnant and right off of the bat Valerie made me feel welcome. Out of 3 midwife centers I saw during my pregnancy this was the only one that I felt the midwives truly listen to me and my concerns and what kind of care I wanted. It was also the only place I felt like truly focused on natural childbirth. The Midwife appointments for always very in-​depth, and I felt like I always had all the time to ask questions and was listened to for any concerns. During the birth Melanie was so helpful and helped me stay calm and relaxed and I always had complete confidence in her. She also had a few tricks up her sleeves to help me avoid taking medications after delivery. I would highly recommend this Center to anybody who is interested in natural childbirth and values a trusting and confident relationship with their midwives. Their facilities were also very nice, always clean and extremely comfortable.

So far, I couldn’t be happier with all the midwives and student midwives. I’m just in love with them. They are honest, kind, funny, supportive, smart and best of all they really love you, your baby and your partner no matter what. Each question through the patient portal (that I might add is awesome) or by phone message they have gotten back to promptly without hesitation or without thinking I’m over exaggerating. I actually truly feel excited about experiencing labor because of them and haven’t been afraid of anything throughout my pregnancy. I look forward to my visits mostly to get to meet with the midwives. They make me smile. Its awesome that my boyfriend thinks they are wonderful too so, he knows that the babe and I are in great hands when he can’t be with us. The birth center facility feels like home! Its clean, it smells good, it’s cozy, it feels right. I don’t feel like I’m waiting in a doctors office and they best part is they are equally as smart as them! They treat pregnancy like it’s magic versus pregnancy being a struggle or a sickness and they treat women like we are super hero’s Even the front desk staff… they are so lovely and welcoming! They treat you like you’re their friend. Seriously, please consider seeing a midwife. If not here, check out the midwives at their other locations. I’ve heard they are just as great. Even if you’re already seeing and OBGYN like I was just meet a midwife for a meet and greet just because you can. My OBGYN was great but she wasn’t for me when it came to my pregnancy. Anyways, I’m just saying you don’t buy the first car you test drive so don’t settle with your pregnancy care before you’ve done your research

After having a wonderful midwife for my other two births, I was excited to find PSBC for my third pregnancy once we moved here. I unfortunately learned though that not all midwives are made alike, and like there are bad doctors, there can be bad midwives also…
I had a few issues with how my care went with this pregnancy. One of the reasons I originally chose a midwife was in order to avoid being shopped around an OB practice and having to see a different doctor every appointment and not knowing who I’d have at the birth. This midwifery practice is run this way — you rotate among a few midwives, and you get the luck of the draw when you go into labor. So if you don’t care for one midwife in particular (like I did), it can get a little stressful wondering if that will be the one helping you birth.
Another issue that made me extremely uncomfortable was this practice really relies a lot on you for the information. They never weigh you — they rely on you to provide that information. They have you pee in the bathroom and check your own urine with a strip; they don’t check it at all (my prior midwife always checked urine for protein and infections every single month herself). They don’t even measure your uterus regularly which I found really bizarre. The attitude in my opinion is a little too relaxed, which can lead to problems. Case in point, I developed a UTI in the first trimester and complained a few times to a couple of different midwives the first few months about symptoms, and they were brushed off. Not until 3 months later at the ER did the infection get diagnosed. All the pain and frankly expense of the ER visit could have been avoided with a simple urine test. Symptoms were brushed off again later when I complained of contractions; I was told to just take magnesium but I insisted on an u/​s because I just didn’t feel «right.» Good thing — they found I was carrying very high amounts of amniotic fluid and they were in fact causing contractions. I was only in the 2^nd trimester, so this was obviously a concern. But I am still fuming that I had to hound them for 3 days for the u/​s referral. I shouldn’t have had to. Other issues came up like an ear infection that I was treated with natural garlic drops that smelled horrific for 3 weeks. I got so frustrated with the infection getting much worse that I saw an ENT who took care of the problem literally in 1 visit with pregnancy-​safe drops. I just feel in general the midwives can get in over their head if you do have complications, but they have a chip on their shoulder about referring you out of their practice to take care of the issue. So you as the patient are left to suffer unnecessarily.
I think if you have totally normal pregnancies with no or very little issues, then it can be a great experience. But if you do develop complications or go into the pregnancy with issues, then this place may just frustrate you. I had to switch to an OB mid-​pregnancy which I did not appreciate because by the end of this I was seriously questioning their ability to handle the rest of my pregnancy and the delivery, God forbid if something were to happen. Or maybe they’d brush it off when I’d call to tell them I was in labor. Either way, their casualness and stubbornness to work with outside sources when they clearly didn’t know what was wrong with me or how to fix it left me very anxious and stressed out about the birth, so I switched.
I just advise you to know what you’re getting into. You’ll be a lot on your own here, and your pregnancy will be treated in my opinion a little too casually. I agree that labor and delivery can be a natural process, but the whole process shouldn’t be treated so casually. There ARE times things can go wrong.

What an incredible birth experience I had with Eastside midwives at PSBC. They are knowledgeable, honest, compassionate and top-​notch in safety. They educated me on the important decisions to be made so that I could make an informed choice for myself and my baby.
I could not have asked for a better experience having my first child naturally!

We have had an incredible all-​around experience with Puget Sound Midwives and Birth Center. We gave birth to our second daughter at the Birth Center in December 2013. Our first daughter was born in Texas, traditional (and positive) hospital birth, and we moved to the Seattle area 20 weeks pregnant with our second. We interviewed with ob’s but eventually decided to go to Midwife route. Puget Sound midwives was the third interview we had and decided halfway through it was it :). We decided to go with the Eastside midwives and continue to be impressed with the level of care.
Contrary to some other reviews we did not find them to be too «crunchy», but rather extremely well-​informed and open to whatever path we chose. I don’t know if we were just lucky, but we never had to wait more than five minutes, if that, for the Midwife to come in and they always spent a minimum of 30 – 45 minutes with us. The midwives put a lot of energy into each of their expecting mothers, they remember you. I remember being so surprised at one of our later visits that one of the midwives memorized our birth plan, almost better than I had!
I can’t tell you how nice it was to be able to bring my toddler to our checkups and have her so accepted. She could run around play with the center’s toys, explore the room, eat her snacks etc and I never got the feeling they were the least bit annoyed, in fact they would show her the instruments and include her.
Nicole was the one on call for our birth. We got to the birth center and things had already progressed really quickly. (3.5 hr birth vs 24 with my first) Nicole found baby’s heart rate was dropping with contractions during monitoring. She managed it amazingly. I never felt any fear in her care, and trusted her decisions and suggestions. There came a point where there was definitely a sense of urgency, but not panic. She helped me push our beautiful new daughter out passed cervical lip and removed the super tight cord around her neck. She came out a bit blue, but crying and totally healthy. I never had any doubt that if it were best for me and baby we would have transferred to the hospital around the block, but it wasn’t. What a wonder to realize when we got home that it was exactly 6 hours round trip.
Lots of follow up visits too, I appreciated they don’t just ‘cut the cord’ on you!
If you are even thinking of delivering here, I would highly encourage you to at least interview with them. We saw some of the negative comments here and they addressed them and all other concerns as well.
If we have another baby, there is no question that we will be coming back!

I just had my second child here with the Eastside midwives (Heike, Nicole, Tanya) and it was a very positive experience.
With my first, I was in a rural area with no options but the hospital. I felt like there was a lot of conflict during my prenatal care with me declining tests, and of course they all freaked out when I went to 43 weeks. Labor ended up being rough and I had every intervention short of a c-​section that I did not want.
Since then, we moved to Kirkland area and I was VERY excited to have the birth center so close to me. All of the prenatal care was wonderful. I felt like the midwives and I were on the same page about everything. They offer all of the standard tests, but it is easy to decline, they never tried to bully me into anything that I did not want. You have a lot of control over your own care. You do your own weight checks, pee on a stick yourself, even do your own GBS swab! I never had my pants down until I was in labor.
With my first being a 43-​weeker, I knew that I might push up close to the 42w deadline here. Fortunately, a dating ultrasound bought me 5 extra days. I ended up delivering at 42w with my dates, 41+2 with my official dates. As we approached the deadline, they went over what our options would be at various points, fortunately labor started on its own without any need for membrane sweeps or castor oil. Throughout my pregnancy the midwives were very reassuring that I probably wouldn’t go past 42w, and that labor would be much smoother this time.
When labor did finally start, it came fast and furious, early in the morning. After three awful contractions I was paging the midwife and making arrangements for my toddler. The soonest the midwife could meet us at the birth center was about 45 minutes from when I called. One awful car ride later, we got there. A student midwife was setting things up and was relieved I wasn’t pushing yet. Tanya got there a short time later.
The labor was fast and furious and horribly painful. Apparently fast labors hurt more than slow ones. But the midwives were great and handled it all well. Baby came out with both elbows by her ears, Tanya did her best to minimize tearing from this, though there was still some. I delivered about an hour after getting there, about 2.5 hours from the first contraction.
I had a fair amount of bleeding afterward and got a shot of pitocin. With baby #1 I ended up fainting and getting a blood transfusion, managed to avoid those this time. Baby was very healthy (and extremely long, which Tanya had predicted when feeling my belly the day before!).
I was pretty faint and dizzy for quite awhile after the birth, so they encouraged me to take a nap, and keep eating and drinking. I didn’t leave until 8 hours later, didn’t feel as rushed to get out as I had feared.
It was really wonderful to have Tanya come to our home 2 days later to check on me and baby and do the heel prick. She lost a little more weight than they liked, so Tanya came back the next day for a weight check, and everything looked good.
We are moving again, so I don’t think coming back here will be an option next time, but I HIGHLY recommend the birth center for anyone considering a natural birth.

We had both of our children at home, guided and supported by Heike and the other midwives/​students. Our first was a bit reticent and took 40 hours from the onset of labor to the actual delivery. It was a bit worrisome for a stretch, but I had total confidence in their ability to handle the situation. Things got a bit tense for awhile but Heike talked us through all the possibilities and options and took it all in hand. We got through it and delivered a perfect little baby boy. Our second child came along a couple years later, much faster, and in great shape. We were well taken care of and would highly recommend the birth center to our friends. We are not fans of hospitals in general (why have your baby around a bunch of sick people?) and we felt safe and confident through the whole process. One note: get a doula too!

Had baby #4 here. I was able to labor in the tub in room 1, my favorite. Leanne and Valerie were fantastic. Will only use a midwife!

I almost would have certainly ended up with a c-​section if I had labored in a hospital. About 18 hours into labor my daughter turned and I had the most horrendous back labor combined with the premature urge to push. Nicole and her two midwifery students really saved me from getting cut open. Between the three of them, for the last 4 – 5 hours of labor they coached me to not push (very difficult, almost impossible when nature calls like that). I’m a nurse so it’s not like I don’t know what goes on in labor or the secret code that providers use.
As it reached the point that my membranes had been ruptured for 24 hours Nicole says to me, «we’re going to reach in and hold back the remaining part of your cervix and let you push for a while and see what kind of progress you make. If you don’t make any progress… we’ll have to reavaluate our plans» (code for a transfer and probable c-​section). My daughter was born about 15 minutes later.
After the birth I confessed I hadn’t been sure I was going to be able to have the natural birth I was hoping for and Nicole confessed she hadn’t been sure I was going to be able to do it either. Many women with posterior babies end up in c-​sections when they don’t have a skilled labor support team to help cope with the pain and/​or turn the baby.
Just a few things to note if you need some medical interventions you’ll have to take it up with your PCP. I had terrible morning sickness all 9 months and had to get antinausea meds from my primary care dr. However, they do have meds for things surrounding labor and delivery. I retained a piece of placenta and they sent me home with Rx meds to help it pass (it didn’t, but that ‘s a weird me thing and it wouldn’t have mattered whether I was in a hospital or not)
This place is also not very ‘hugs n puppies’ as I call it. You do get more time with the midwives than you would with an OB, but you’re not beat over the head with ‘women are goddesses’ stuff. If you want somebody to hold your hand throughout pregnancy and labor, hire a doula. It’s not that they aren’t personable or concerned about your needs they just aren’t going to be holding your hand and cheering you on throughout labor.

I recently gave birth at Eastside Midwives and it was a great experience! I was with the Hieke/​Tonya/​Nicole team. Hieke was the midwife present at my birth and she was amazing.
Pros:
–Way cheaper than the hospital (with or without ins – I didn’t even hit my out of pocket deductible for the year!)
–Small practice so you get to know the midwives really well before your birth.
–The midwives are really supportive about what you want to do. They educate you about your choices along the way and let you make the choice. And then, they do not judge your choice (i.e. parents getting Tdap vaccine, water birth vs no water birth etc).
–The midwives will let you have a hour or two to bond with your baby before they weigh/​measure the baby.
–One of the midwives comes to your house one or two days after the baby is born to check on you and the baby. It is so nice to be able to just stay in bed and have them come to you.
–The midwives are really personable and passionate about their jobs. You really get the feeling that genuinely care about you and your baby.
–Prenatal appointments are 30 minutes long, so you don’t feel rushed. The whole time is with the midwife (not a nurse charting your information before the doctor comes in).
Cons:
–You leave the birth center 4 hours after giving birth. As a first time parent it is rather daunting to be on your own so quickly. I would have loved to have the option to have a baby nurse come to our house (even if was out of pocket).
–The practice tends to run 10 – 15 minutes behind schedule on a fairly regular basis. But it is a doctor’s office, so 10 – 15 really isn’t that bad.
–Small practice so if you don’t click with one of the midwives – there is still a ¹⁄₃ chance that they will be the midwife at your birth.

I gave birth to my baby girl in February 2012. I had planned on delivering her at Puget Sound Birth Center with the Lake Washington Midwives. So, my review can cover the pre-​natal care I received as well as the birth. I had huge hopes for a great experience with PSBC based on rave reviews I’d heard from others, but unfortunately I can’t give them an unqualified recommendation.
Our initial experience was really positive, but when it came time for the birth we had some big problems such as not being able to come in until late in labor. I arrived fully dilated after being told we were not to come in before a certain hour so that they could ‘get the room ready’. Another frustration was that when the labor was not progressing and we were told we should transfer to Evergreen their transfer process was horrible and even felt unsafe to me. Though they’d discussed the possibility of a transfer with my husband an hour or two before discussing it with me, they had not arranged for it and had not copied our medical records in advance which seems inefficient. Then, when the transfer decision was made for me to go to Evergreen for a C-​section I had to wait for them to obtain approval from the hospital, had to wait for photocopies of my records and (worst of all) learned that my husband was expected to drive me there. I ended up on my hands and knees in the back of his car with no seat belt (I couldn’t sit down) being driven to the hospital by an exhausted and weary husband. We’d asked about an ambulance and were told it wasn’t an option. I think they should reconsider how patients are transferred and how they prepare for that (hopefully slim) possibility.
Pro’s for me:
–The med-​free approach is great and something that I was happy to find so well supported by the midwives
–The were extremely generous with their time during appointments and were able to build a relationship with us and to create an environment where every issue and question can be addressed and discussed fully
–They had great midwifery students and we really felt supported by the one present at our birth. She felt supportive in the way I would have expected of a doula.
–Great birth rooms. I loved the large tubs and enjoyed laboring in one. The environment is really relaxing.
–Kind staff (midwives, billing and reception were all very sweet).
–Wi-​Fi access, which is great during the long waits
–You are encouraged to eat/​drink during labor which was great and helped to keep my energy up
–Great library you can borrow from with everything from baby name books to birth and parenting guides
The cons:
–EVERY appointment I had was late. Sometimes they only ran 5 minutes late, but often it was more like 20 – 30 minutes late. That’s a pain if you are a professional or someone with an otherwise busy schedule
–The transfer process was AWFUL and felt unsafe to me. Though they advocated for a transfer they did not have the medical records copied, were late to obtain permission for a transfer and did not leverage an ambulance for transfer (we instead had to drive ourselves, with me unbuckled and unseated in the back seat of our car).
–They seemed to push the midwives going with you to the hospital and the fees for that (not covered by insurance) are steep. Knowing we were going to have a C-​section– I saw no value in this.
Overall I think PSBC could be a great option for ‘most’ people and the midwives are lovely people, but if you’re one of the few who needs to transfer (I think they said about 15% of people do) then the experience could be a poor one. Be sure to delve into the possiblity of a transfer with them and even consider pre-​registering with a hospital in case you end up needing one.

I cannot say enough wonderful things about the Lake Washington Midwives at the Puget Sound birth center. As a registered nurse and former labor & delivery nurse, I came to the midwives at 8 weeks of pregnancy, with the desire for a natural delivery but with many questions. The midwives answered all of my questions & concerns with so much knowledge and compassion, I immediately knew that this was where I wanted to have my prenatal care.
Unfortunately, my baby turned to breech at 32 weeks, and it was only with the skilled hands of Ali, one of the midwives, that we even noticed that baby was not head down. After trying everything possible to try to turn baby to head down (including a failed version), I ended up having to have a C-​section at 39 weeks for breech. However, the amazing midwives provided all of my care straight up to delivery and re-​assumed care after I was discharged from the hospital for the rest of my postpartum course. Through it all, they remained incredibly supportive and understanding, especially since I was disappointed at not having the chance to try a vaginal birth. In the end, we were blessed with a beautiful healthy baby girl, and because I felt that the midwives helped me do everything to try to ensure I still had the birth I wanted, I felt at peace and OK with our birth experience. I would HIGHLY recommend them to anyone looking for a very family centered, nurturing, caring place to go for pregnancy and birth. The midwives and their office staff are just incredible!!!

Wow, I can’t believe I never updated this review! I had my second baby at home in April of 2008 with Ali; Valerie was the other midwife that cared for us but the timing didn’t work out for her to be at Felix’s birth. She’s right though; mamas and babies know what they need, and Ali was great to and for us.
Prenatal care went smoothly and we had a few student midwives who assisted the experienced midwives throughout your prenatal visits and at the actual birth. I don’t mind that, but if you do, they will exclude them from your appointments, though they really do want a second midwife at your homebirth to help out… they are unobtrusive anyway. Our final student midwife, Melissa, was AWESOME. She was so great with our kids, so high energy and loving… she really made the birth special for the girls.
My husband’s daughter was 13 when Felix was born and my daughter was 8; they were both there to see the birth and I like to joke that it’s the best teenage birth control ever. Melissa kept them clued in to what was happening so they wouldn’t worry or be frightened while Ali, my friend, and my husband focused on me. The girls LOVE their brother and I really believe they are more attached to him because they were there.
Felix got 10s on his Apgars and overall, the birth was challenging but excellent. If I had been in a hospital setting, we would have been «messed with» and I believe those interventions can be harmful. The high after giving birth without drugs is amazing, and the bright, alert, curious baby is a fantastic reward.
I would have another baby at home, but at 44, I’m kinda hoping that the next homebirth in our family is twelve to fifteen years from now at my daughter’s house, maybe with Melissa, who is going to be an amazing midwife. :-)

I was going to give birth at the University Of Washington medical center and i began reciving pre-​natal care at Harborview, i felt that they were not meeting my needs and i began to look elsewhere. i found Puget Sound Midwives and Birth Center and after the first consultation i decided to recieve care there. I think they are very nice and kind and i trust them to help me give birth. Tracey is one of my favorite midwives there (they are all really nice) i found it conforting that they knew the exact position of the baby just by touch, the OB/GYN’s at harborview needed an ultrasound machine everytime to figure out the position of my baby. The enviroment here is really relaxing as well. The only issue i think they have is over booking patients. If you get there on time it sometimes can take a while before they are ready to come see you. Other than that this is the ideal place to have a baby.

The birth center is home to two midwifery practices — Eastside Midwives and Lake Washington Midwives.
Eastside Midwives (Heike, Andrea, and Nicole) were the midwives we were scheduled with for our consultation. We didn’t have a preference.
First of all, the consultation, at 7 weeks pregnant, was phenomenal. Heike spent close to an hour discussing their care philosophy, routine, and what to expect over the coming 8 months. We were so impressed with her that we didn’t search around for any other care providers. I don’t really recommend doing that, but PSBC felt right for us.
Each prenatal appointment was 30 – 60 minutes long, depending on the topic of discussion. They made sure to discuss any available testing and gave us the opportunity to opt out of any testing with disagreed with or just didn’t want. The midwives were always willing to answer our questions and return our phone calls if we had a concern in between appointments. My pregnancy was very easy, so we only used the on-​call service twice, including LO’s birth day.
We birthed at the birth center in the tub with grandparents and other family members present. It made it so special to have everyone I love around me for such a momentous occasion. Everything went smoothly and we left about 3 – 4 hours after LO’s birth. I loved being able to go home and rest after labor. Plus, Andrea showed up the next day to check on LO and I didn’t have to worry about hobbling out to the car and taking him in for his first appointment.
On top of the great prenatal care, I had some issues about 5 months postpartum and gave Eastside Midwives a call. Heike returned my call and gave her thoughts on what to do next. I really appreciated her swift attention to my problem, even though I wasn’t a current patient.

I am 8 months pregnant and expecting my first baby in Oct. Coming into this experience has been terrifying and wonderful, planing my birth at and going to my pre-​natal visits at the Puget Sound Birth center has been exactly what I dreamed.
My midwife team is Valerie, Ali and Suntia. These women have provided such down to earth, kind, care that there is no where I feel safer.
I am very excited about my birth, and feel a great deal of confidence knowing that one of these wonderful women will be my midwife.
Everyone in the birth center has provided me (and my husband) with caring support, from my midwives, to the midwife students and the office staff. There is no part of this center I would change.

Okay, here’s how the place works. There are two midwife practices operating out of the same office. If you go with the «Lake Washington Midwives» you get Val, Ali, and Sunita and Monday or Wednesday appointments. If you go with the «Eastside Midwives» you get Heike, Andrea, and Nicole on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You’ll rotate through all three midwives in your practice and it will be luck of the draw as to which attends your birth. (I got Sunita and I have to say, I give her five stars. AWESOME.)
(You may also want to view the separate Unilocal entry for the Lake Washington Midwives.)
That being said, here are the pros and cons as I see them. I am not trying to review the midwife-​vs-​hospital experience – each of us has our own reasons for considering a midwife – although I may highlight differences or points of possible interest on occasion. Also keep in mind that while I can be kind of granola about some things I am fairly practical, pro-​technology, anti-​stupidity. (And some might say opinionated. ;)
Pros:
—I have heard them described as the midwives that other midwives think are too modern/​medical. They *will* transfer you to a hospital if it’s needed. This, in my mind, is a very good thing. :)
—They have equipment on hand in case quick emergency care is needed.
—Hands off! I admit to being Ob/​Gyn-​phobic. These gals refrain from internal exams until birth itself. That includes various swabs and tests and such: they trust that you can swab yourself and don’t require the expert services of a doctor to do such a mundane affair. :P
—They’ll come to *your* house for the first follow-​up checkup, which is nice when you really don’t feel like moving. :D
Cons:
—How many times have I heard that you won’t be kept waiting by a midwife like at a doctors office? It’s a lie. They seemed to run 10 to 15 minutes late on average.
—Call-​back times on questions can be somewhat long (~4 hours).
—Their helpful handbook on area services is full of errors and/​or out-​of-​date information. They *really* need to update it.
—They’re rather granola. Homeopathic remedies are not my thing, but flu shots are. So we have some philosophical differences.
—These gals know birth and they know it well. Lactation? Not so much. Make sure you have a lactation consultant of your own choosing for post-​birth support or else you may end up with a very painful breastfeeding experience.
Short story: I liked their service as compared to a possible hospital birth, although I have a few reservations because of their crunchy nature. Yet I would/​will undoubtedly use them again.

I had my baby with Heike Doyle and Andrea Henderson at Eastside /​Puget Sound Birth Center and loved the personal care I got.
They are long time midwives in the area, and two women at work had babies with them. I chose to have my baby at the birth center, but they do home births, too.
Evergreen Hospital is just up the road, so that was an added measure of safety for me.

First I have to say that no one can make a blanket statement about the comparative safety of out-​of-​hospital and in-​hospital births. There are sampling artifacts inherent in comparing the two — people who are high-​risk to begin with or who develop certain compliations are not (and shouldn’t be) allowed to continue with a birth center or homebirth and thus drive down the safety statistics of hospital births as compared to out-​of-​hospital births. Additionally the concept of «safe» must be defined — the abillity of a hospital to emergently respond to a sudden complication for mother or baby (while that may not be common, it does happen) is a plus, while the lower chance of unnecessary intervention and it’s attendant risks is a plus on the homebirth/​birthcenter side. Additionally, not all midwives/​birth centers are interchangeable nor are all doctors/​hospitals.
Ultimately, the safest place for any mother to deliver her baby can only be determined by evaluating the individual facilities and practitioners available to her along with her personal health considerations and risk factors.
With that out of the way… I used to work at a CNM-​run birth center in Virginia and after working there, I knew that I wanted midwifery care and an out-​of-​hospital birth. I’d kind of have preferred homebirth but my husband thought the birth center was safer (an illusion… with the same midwifery practice, everything available at one is available at the other unless you live in the boonies really far away from a hosptial if you need to transfer) so we shopped for birth centers and midwives.
Now, I am generally comfortable with the standard medical community and care, and finding a non-​standard model of care and birth that was still comfortable to me has been hard (I’ve left the PSBC and ended up with the Providence Midwifery Group… ultimately I am happier with the prenatal care but disappointed that I will be delivering in a hospital). I found it frustrating that, in this area, there are very few CNMs doing out-​of-​hospital births, it’s mostly LMs. I recognize that an experienced LM can be a better practitioner than a newbie CNM but for some reason, I have differing feelings about the «medical-​ness» of the prenatal care and that of the birth itself.
I will say that while I was seeing Andrea and Heike, I never doubted or felt uncomfortable in any way with their ability to safely and wonderfully deliver my baby in a great environment.
I was, however, very frustrated with the fact that they are not able to take care of simple, common, pregnancy-​related complaints (for example, can’t prescribe any medication including anti-nausea…there is an argument for not taking the drugs if you can deal with the nausea and it is fairly short lived but mine lasted for the first 16 weeks and I lost 10 pounds over it… even WITH the anti-​nausea drugs that I ended up getting from my primary care dr.) Also, although they promote that you still have access to all of the care that you would normally receive including referrals to an OB if there is a problem, when my primary care requested that they refer me to an OB, they declined to do so because they didn’t agree that there was a concern and even if there was, it wouldn’t have warranted a referral to a perinatologist. I agreed that seeing a perinatologist would have been over the top, but that, or a referral to a naturopath, was my only two options. They do not work with any «regular» OBs in the area.
I give three stars because I wouldn’t tell anyone not to go here, I just wasn’t happy with them myself. Picking a practitioner that you are comfortable with and a place you want to give birth is a very personal decision and there are a lot of things that factor into it, including things that might develop during the preganacy that you didn’t know were going to happen! I thought both midwives were friendly and knowledgeable, and I thought the center itself was great. I saw lots of pictures of happy parents and read quotes from people that were satisfied and had multiple children there and would do so again. Maybe I would have been happier if it wasn’t my first pregnancy… I considered myself pretty educated about the whole thing until it happened to me and then I found a lot of little things that I had questions about. And I guess that’s the last thing I have to say something about…
The midwifery style and ou-​of-​hospital birth community and mentality is that the entire process is very centered around the mother-​to-​be with her having the ablility to make decisions about all sorts of things and offered options and not being pushed into anything. I love that, but at the same time, I felt an unspoken expectation that while I could ask any questions I wanted, if I wanted answers that were in-​depth enough for me (again, this is personal… not everyone might have felt this way!) the burden was on me to hunt them down.