St. Peter's Hospital: Take A Tour Of New Midwife Birth Center

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Is this a place to deliver a baby or a hotel? St. Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick has blurred the line between both with its brand-new midwife-focused birthing center.

As Patch previously reported, this is the first-of-its-kind birth center that is also attached to the campus of a hospital. It is the first of its kind anywhere in the state of New Jersey.

The St. Peter's birthing center officially opened this Tuesday, Nov. 5.

There are many standalone birthing centers in New Jersey, but none of them are actually attached to a hospital. At St. Peter's, in the event a woman in labor needs surgery or more advanced care, she be will taken through a set of doors, up an elevator and into the main hospital of St. Peter's, which coincidentally just received an "A" grade in patient safety in the latest 2019 LeapFrog reviews. Saint Peter’s is also a state-designated children’s hospital and a regional perinatal center.

Inside the birthing center, however, the focus is on midwife care and natural delivery.

“It truly is the best of both worlds,” said Joanne Cunha, MS, CNM, certified nurse-midwife and clinical director of Saint Peter’s Midwifery Services. “A stunningly beautiful, quiet and comfortable space to bring a new life into the world, but with all the resources of the hospital, just a few floors away."

Each birth is attended by a midwife, a registered nurse and a patient care technician who is trained as a doula. St. Peter's also provides new moms with a lactation consultant for help with breastfeeding after delivery — as many women know, breastfeeding can be hard! There are also aromatherapy and sound machines.

Each birthing suite has a queen bed, spa-size tub and shower, plus space and furnishings to accommodate family and other support individuals. There is even a play area for older siblings to wait in, as labor can take a long time.

This is part of a trend of natural, midwife-run birthing suites attached to local hospitals, seen at this hospital in suburban Cincinnati and this birthing suite at a hospital in Southfield, Michigan.

The birthing center has its own entrance on Easton Avenue, but it is connected to the hospital via an elevator. Women from throughout Middlesex County, Hunterdon and Somerset counties deliver their babies at St. Peter's.

"This is a place where women with low-risk pregnancies can be under the care of a midwife and have a holistic birth experience," said Cunha.

Women who have had a previous cesarean can be seen by the midwives, but will give birth in traditional labor and delivery in the hospital, due to increased risk. A midwife will still attend the VBAC.

“We respect each woman’s right to decide the circumstances of her birth experience,” she continued. “Our expectant mothers can eat when hungry, spend time in the tub and labor in the most comfortable position, specific to them. Fetal monitoring is done by handheld Doppler so women can move about freely. We attend to her every need and serve as her partner in the decision making about her birth plan."

The Saint Peter’s midwife team works exclusively at the Birth Center. All Saint Peter’s midwives are certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board.

The growth of the birth center concept coincides with a current evolution in obstetrics care, regarding pregnancy and childbirth as a healthy, normal part of life — not something to be treated as a medical condition. The Mary V. O'Shea Birth Center, named after its benefactor, embraces that wellness model. Medical intervention is given only when necessary.

St. Peter's is a Roman Catholic hospital. Before the birth center opened, Bishop James F. Checchio, Bishop Diocese of Metuchen blessed the birth center and the new home of the Department of Medical Genetics and Genomic Medicine.

Saint Peter's decided to open the center in response to the increasing number of American women who choose to deliver with a midwife.

For more information or to schedule a tour, call (732) 339-7880 or visit www.saintpetershcs.com/birthcenter, where you may also download the birth plan.