Perhaps Someday...

When I return home, my goal is to become a Certified Nurse Midwife. Once that is completed, I want to open a birth center in North Carolina. Everyone says that third world countries need expert maternity care but America needs it badly too. I want to start a birth center because many times, women want a home birth but are too scared. For them, a birth center is a middle-ground between a hospital and a home. However, I hope to also have the option for a woman to decide between the birth center or her home when she goes into labor. I don't know if that's even possible, but that's my dream. It's at least what they do in (parts of) Europe.

I'd like to locate the birth center near Wake Med Cary, since that's a fairly friendly hospital toward natural birth. Also, that would make it a decent ways away from the birth center in Chapel Hill. I would prefer my birthing home to be in a more residential area so it's more like a home but in a location where I can get a woman to the hospital in about five minutes in case of an emergency.

My birth center would look like a house and be furnished like one.

The downstairs would contain a living room, kitchen, prenatal room, all-purpose room, and probably more rooms which I can't think of right now...

Upstairs would contain four bedroom/birth rooms, each with their own bathroom. In each birthroom would be a king or queen-sized bed in the corner, a tall desk/dresser for birth supplies, and a birthing pool. Aside from the bathroom and birth pool, each room would look like a normal bedroom, as if the couple is at home. Also upstairs would be a room for the on-call midwives and (possibly) their families. Everything would have a relaxed, home-like atmosphere.

Outside would be a beautiful garden with a path for people to walk around. There would also be a large play-fort for any kids waiting for their moms to finish with prenatals. Behind the house there might also be a swimming pool for prenatal aerobics and occasional prenatal parties during the summer.

I would love to open up the downstairs to be a birthing community, renting out hte living room for child birth education classes, meet-the-doula nights, pregnancy and birth-related movie nights, and other birth-related functions.

If his dream gets to happen, birth in North Carolina would change. :-D