Birthing centre delivers
While newborn Caitlyn Stewart slept peacefully in a cradle nearby, her mom and dad, four sisters and grandma sat around a table at the Community Birthing Centre in Pointe-Claire enjoying breakfast. Mom Ann sat with dad Dale, Aimée, 14, Keira, 11, Jessica, 8, Vanessa, 4, and grandma Judith Giles. It was less than 14 hours since Caitlyn had entered the world. The birthing centre, located on the third floor of the CLSC Lac-St-Louis on Cartier Ave. in Pointe-Claire, hosted an open house Monday. Parents with tiny ones mingled with the media to talk about their experiences giving birth outside of a hospital setting. Four of the Stewart family’s five daughters were born at the birthing centre. Aimée was a breach birth, which required a Caesarian-section delivery at the hospital. “I am treated as a whole person here, not just as a vessel that carries a baby to term,” mom said. “I enjoy the homey feel here at the centre,” dad said. “They are there to help when you want help and they leave you on your own when you want to be left alone.” Technically, Vanessa was also born outside the centre. It is the stuff of excellent family lore. She was born at the PointeClaire Curling Club, around five long blocks south of the birthing centre. “We went for a walk,” mom said with a grin. “My contractions were 20 minutes apart, so we thought we had time.” Nope. Babies arrive when they want to arrive. Luckily, midwife Marie Brunet was there to help. There are 10 midwives on staff. They work in groups of two with each mother and are on call 24/7 for 10 days out of two weeks. “Having your pager with you is a way of life,” Brunet said. “You may be out for dinner with a friend, but if the pager beeps, off you go.” Brunet said she had a “very strong calling” to become a midwife, triggered by witnessing the birth of a baby goat. “It brought me to tears,” she said. The centre opened in 1995 and she joined the staff in 1996. Back then, midwives trained on an apprenticeship basis with a veteran midwife. In 2000, a degree in midwifery was introduced at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. The birthing centre welcomes around 280 babies every year and around one in five women in labour will require a consultation with a doctor or a transfer to the hospital. “If there is hyper-tension or a breech, it is beyond our expertise,” Brunet said. Around seven per cent of the women who begin their labour at the birthing centre and are transferred to hospital have a C-section. Brunet said the rate of C-section births for hospital labours hovers at around 25 per cent. Why the difference? “There is a something called the cascade of interventions,” Brunet said. “One intervention leads to another and another until eventually the mother needs a C-section. At the birthing centre, the woman is allowed to enter that state a woman naturally enters into when going into labour. We monitor her, but we also give her the space she needs to do what she needs to do without interruption.” There are four “delivery rooms,” although they look nothing like hospital rooms. Instead, they are furnished like cosy bedrooms with colourful linens and throw pillows, a bathroom and, of course, a cradle sitting at the ready. “You always feel secure here,” Alexandra Roy said. “You get into that natural state and let your body do the work.” Roy gave birth — a C-section — to her first baby at a hospital and her second child was born at the birthing centre. She is now a member of a volunteer group that holds fundraisers for the centre to pay for equipment, furniture or supplies for financially strapped mothers that are not covered by government financing. Fear of complications during labour and fear of pain often compel a woman to give birth at a hospital. The midwives do not administer pain medication. “I came out of the experience feeling empowered,” Virginia Opara said as her one-year-old daughter Maeve toddled around a consultation room at the centre. Couple Yacine Prosper and Thierry Doutre smiled and nodded as they listened to Opara talk while their three-month-old baby girl Zaya snoozed comfortably nearby. They also have a three-year-old boy Quince who was born at a hospital. “Like so many people, we thought we needed a safety net,” Prosper said. “People are really good at scaring you into thinking you need a hospital.” The couple wouldn’t think twice about returning to the centre if ever a third baby comes along. Brunet said women leave the centre between three and 24 hours after giving birth. Midwives visit the mothers at home the next day, Day 3 and Day 5 with the mother coming to the centre for followup appointments at three weeks and six weeks. Clients come to the PointeClaire facility from across the island. The birthing centre services are free. For more information about the Community Birthing Centre — CSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île, call 514-697-1199 or visit csssouestdelile.qc.ca/en/care-and-services/children-parents-and-family/ community-birthing-centre.