The vast majority of births in the United States occur in a hospital. A hospital birth offers around-the-clock staffing, a wide range of pain management options, and surgical capacity. Plus, a hospital has an on-site NICU if your baby needs additional care. Hospitals also have policies, routines, and a care model that shape your experience. Whether you have already decided on a hospital birth, are weighing your venue options, or want a backup plan, this episode will prepare you for what to expect. Learn what makes a hospital birth distinct, who provides care, what happens from arrival through discharge, the interventions available, and the evidence on outcomes.

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What a Hospital Birth Is

A hospital birth is exactly what it sounds like, but the specifics vary a lot from one facility to the next. You may give birth in a community hospital with a single labor and delivery floor. You may have access to an academic medical center with maternal-fetal medicine specialists and a Level IV NICU. It could be somewhere in between. Some hospitals have hospital-based midwifery practices, while others are exclusively staffed by obstetricians. Some have water-birth tubs and telemetry monitors; others do not. Hospital policies, provider training, and on-site resources all influence the experience.

The United States is overwhelmingly a hospital birth country. According to CDC data, about 98% of US births occur in hospitals. The remaining roughly 2% includes home births and freestanding birth centers. This was not always the case. According to historical CDC data, in 1900, almost all US births occurred outside hospitals. By 1940, that figure was down to 44%. By 1969, hospital births had reached 99%, and they have stayed at roughly that level since.

Hospital birth is the default for several reasons. It is the venue that most insurance plans cover most easily. It is the only setting equipped to handle emergencies that require surgical intervention. In the US medical model, this is where most obstetricians are trained and practice. If you have a high-risk pregnancy or are expecting any complications, a hospital is almost certainly going to be the recommended venue. If you have a low-risk pregnancy, you have more options available. Still, many low-risk mothers choose a hospital setting. This episode focuses on what a hospital birth looks like and how to navigate it. Birth centers and home births are covered in separate episodes in this series.

What Makes a Hospital Birth Distinct

There are a few defining features that set a hospital apart from a birth center or a home birth. The first is that hospitals offer emergency capacity. An operating room is steps away from your labor and delivery room, anesthesia is on-site, and a NICU can care for your baby if complications arise. In an emergency, response time is measured in minutes.

Hospitals also offer a wide range of pain management options. An epidural, IV opioids, nitrous oxide, and other medical pain management options are widely available in a hospital setting. If you know you want pharmacological pain relief or want the option available during labor, a hospital is the only venue where that option exists.

Hospitals have shift-based staffing. Nurses typically work 8 or 12-hour shifts, and doctors take call in rotations. This means that the person who provides your prenatal care may not be the person who attends your birth. Most of your labor will be supported by labor and delivery nurses rather than your doctor or midwife, and you may meet several nurses across a longer labor as shifts change. This is a feature of how hospitals function. The benefit is that there is always someone available. The downside is that relationships with individual providers are looser than in a midwifery model.

One way to maintain continuity of care, regardless of which provider is on call, is to work with a doula. A doula is a trained professional who provides continuous emotional, physical, and informational support throughout your labor. Unlike your doctor, midwife, or nurses, your doula does not change shifts. If continuity of relationship matters to you in a hospital setting, a doula is one of the most reliable ways to build it in.

Hospitals also have many policies and protocols. Some are clinical, like when to recommend a cesarean or how often to do vaginal exams. Others are administrative, like how long you stay or who can be in the room. Others are about liability and risk management. These shape the experience in ways that may not be obvious until you are in labor. The more you understand the policies at your specific hospital before you go in, the fewer surprises you will run into.

Care Provider Model

In a hospital birth, your care provider is most often an obstetrician. Obstetricians are physicians who complete medical school followed by a four-year residency in obstetrics. They handle the full range of pregnancies from low-risk to high-risk. Most US hospital births are attended by physicians.

Some hospitals also have certified nurse-midwives on staff. Certified nurse-midwives are registered nurses with graduate-level midwifery training, and they typically care for low-risk pregnancies in a hospital setting alongside obstetricians. If something becomes higher risk or requires surgical intervention, an obstetrician steps in.

The difference between an obstetrician and a midwife is not just credentials. It is also a difference in the care model. Midwifery-led care tends to emphasize longer appointments, more time spent on education and shared decision-making, and lower rates of routine interventions. The obstetric model tends to be more efficient time-wise and more interventionist by training. Neither is universally better, and individual providers within each model vary enormously. The Pregnancy Podcast has a full episode on choosing or changing your doctor or midwife that goes into the comparison in detail.

What to Expect from Prenatal Care

Routine prenatal care follows a standard timeline regardless of where you plan to give birth. If you plan a hospital birth, your prenatal care typically takes place at your provider’s clinic or office, not at the hospital itself. While the clinical content of prenatal care is similar across venues, the time you spend with your provider and the focus of your visits differs. Those differences are more about the contrast between OB/GYN-led care and midwifery-led care than about hospital versus other settings. It just so happens that OB/GYNs tend to be hospital-based.

Preparing for a Hospital Birth

There are a few things worth taking care of before you go into labor at a hospital. The first is to take a tour. This allows you to see what the labor and delivery floor looks like, how the rooms are set up, and what amenities or tools are available. A tour also covers practical logistics, such as which entrance to use when you arrive, where to park, and what to do if you arrive after regular hours.

Pre-register if your hospital offers it. Filling out admitting paperwork and providing your insurance information ahead of time means you are not doing it between contractions. Most hospitals will also ask for your birth plan to be put in your chart in advance. If they do not, you can always send them an advance copy and ask that to include it in your file.

If there are specific aspects of your birth experience that are really important to you, find out the hospital’s policy. The best time to find out about a policy that will affect your birth plan is during a prenatal appointment. Not when you are in active labor. This applies to things like mobility during labor, eating and drinking, electronic fetal monitoring, water immersion, who can be in the room with you, etc.

If you have a scheduled induction, you know exactly when to be at the hospital. Otherwise, your doctor or midwife should give you specific guidance on when to actually go into the hospital. This is usually based on contraction patterns. A common rule is 5-1-1. That means your contractions are five minutes apart, lasting one minute each, for at least one hour. If you are not sure whether you are in labor, call your provider before getting in the car.

Arrival at the Hospital

When you arrive at the hospital, you will check in at the labor and delivery unit. If it is after hours, you may go through the emergency department. The staff will evaluate you to determine whether you are in active labor and should be admitted, or whether it is a false alarm and you should return home and come back later.

Triage

Your first stop is typically a triage room. A nurse will check your vital signs (pulse, blood pressure, and temperature). Expect a series of questions like your due date, when contractions started, how far apart they are, whether your water has broken, and whether you have noticed any bleeding or changes in your baby’s movement.

If your water has broken, your provider will ask about COAT: color, amount, odor, and time. Clear or slightly straw-colored fluid is normal. Green or brown fluid suggests meconium and changes what happens next. The time your water broke is also relevant because the risk of infection increases the longer your baby is exposed without the protective membranes. Your provider may track that on a 24-hour clock, after which the risk of infection increases. Hospital policies vary on how strictly that timeline is enforced.

Admission Fetal Monitoring

Standard practice in most US hospitals is to put you on an electronic fetal monitor for about 20 to 30 minutes when you first arrive. Two belts go around your abdomen. One tracks your baby’s heart rate, the other tracks your contractions. This admission monitoring provides the team with a baseline of how your baby is tolerating early labor.

It is worth knowing that a Cochrane review of admission cardiotocography in low-risk women found that admission CTG increases the likelihood of a cesarean birth by about 20% without clear evidence of benefit for the baby. The reviewers recommend against routine admission CTG for low-risk women. In practice, US hospitals have largely continued the routine. There is much more detail on monitoring options, including continuous versus intermittent, telemetry, and what the research shows, in the episode on fetal heart rate monitoring.

Vaginal Exam

After fetal monitoring, your provider may suggest a vaginal exam to check your cervix for dilation and effacement. The exam helps confirm whether you are in active labor and gives a sense of how far along you are. There are pros and cons to routine cervical checks, which are covered in detail in the episode on vaginal exams.

Abdominal Exam

Your provider will also feel your abdomen to determine your baby’s position. If they cannot confirm the position by palpation, a quick ultrasound can clarify it. Most US hospitals will recommend a cesarean if your baby is breech at term. It is rare for a baby to flip at the last minute. If your baby was head down going into the final weeks, you are probably fine.

If You Are Sent Home

After these exams, the team decides whether to admit you or send you home. If you are not yet in active labor, going home is often the right call. Early labor at home, where you can move, eat, rest, and stay relaxed, tends to be more comfortable and may help labor progress. Being sent home is not a failure. Many first-time moms have false alarms. You are better off going in and being sent home than ignoring signs and going into labor at home.

Labor in a Delivery Room

Once you are admitted, you move to the room where you will labor and give birth. You will be assigned a labor and delivery nurse as your main point of contact. Do not be shy about asking for what you need, whether that is ice, a wet washcloth, a birthing ball, dim lighting, or a few minutes of quiet.

If you have a written birth plan, make sure it is in your chart and that your nurse has a copy. If anything in particular matters to you, say it out loud. Nurses change shifts, and even a great handoff misses details. A short, clear statement (“I’m planning an unmedicated birth” or “I want an epidural as soon as possible”) helps your team support what you actually want.

The environment you labor in significantly affects how labor unfolds. Oxytocin, the hormone that drives contractions, is most easily released when you feel calm and safe. Stress hormones like adrenaline and noradrenaline can slow labor down. A Cochrane review of nearly 12,000 women compared bedroom-like alternative birth settings within hospitals to conventional labor wards. Women in the alternative settings were more likely to have a spontaneous vaginal birth, less likely to use pain medication, and reported greater satisfaction with care. A Danish study of sensory-designed delivery rooms with programmable calming lights, restful images, and soothing sounds found a significantly lower cesarean rate (6.4%) compared to standard rooms (10.7%). You cannot redesign a hospital room, but you can dim the lights, lower the volume on monitors, bring familiar items, and ask staff to speak softly. Small adjustments stack up.

IV Fluids and Saline Locks

Many hospitals start an IV routinely on admission. An IV is required if you need antibiotics (for example, if you tested positive for Group B strep), if you are getting Pitocin, if you have an epidural, or if you become dehydrated. For low-risk women who do not need any of those things, a saline lock is often an alternative.

A saline lock is an IV catheter placed in your hand or arm that is not connected to a fluid line. If you end up needing fluids or medication, it is already in place. If you don’t, you have not been tethered to a pole. You may hear the older term “hep-lock.” This referred to heparin flushes used to keep the line open. Most hospitals now use saline flushes instead, but the name has stuck in some places. If you have specific preferences regarding IV fluids or a saline lock, you can ask your provider ahead of time whether a running IV is required on admission or if a saline lock is an option for low-risk patients.

Mobility, Eating, and Drinking

Hospital policies on movement, food, and drink vary widely and shape what labor feels like more than you might expect. Some hospitals encourage walking and position changes. Some venues have tools available, such as birthing ball. They may offer the option to labor in the shower or a tub.

A Cochrane review of women during the first stage of labor concluded that walking and upright positions reduce the duration of labor, the risk of cesarean birth, and the need for an epidural, with no apparent increase in interventions or negative effects on mothers and babies. A study on second-stage positions found that women who used upright positions more than half the time had more effective contractions, more perineal muscle relaxation, significantly shorter births, fewer assisted deliveries, and fewer cesareans. The full episode on optimal labor positions covers what works and how to adapt positions if you have interventions that affect mobility. Even if you are limited to a hospital bed, you can sit in an upright position. There are things that you can do to take advantage of the most effective labor positions, even with limited mobility.

US hospitals tend to follow ACOG’s position, which supports clear liquids in active labor but restricts solid food. The historical concern was about aspiration in the event of an emergency cesarean under general anesthesia. That risk is now extremely rare. A study of 48,609 cesarean deliveries found an aspiration incidence of 0.013% under general anesthesia. The American College of Nurse-Midwives takes a different position and supports light eating during labor for low-risk women, as does the American Society for Anesthesiologists.

A Cochrane review found no benefits or harms from restricting food and fluids during labor in low-risk women and concluded that women should be free to eat and drink in labor as they wish. The gap between the evidence and standard hospital practice is real, and policies vary by hospital and by provider. The episodes on eating and drinking during labor and the Q&A on whether you should avoid eating during labor cover this in depth. If mobility, water immersion, or eating during labor matter to you, ask your hospital what their specific policies are well before you go into labor.

Continuous Monitoring During Labor

We talked about fetal monitoring upon admission. Hospitals also use fetal monitoring throughout labor to track how your baby is tolerating contractions. There are two general categories. Traditional electronic fetal monitoring uses belts strapped around your abdomen connected by wires to a machine at the bedside, which tethers you in place. Telemetry monitoring uses a small wireless transmitter that sends your baby’s heart rate data to the nurses’ station, which lets you walk, shower, or change positions. Not every hospital has telemetry monitors, so if mobility matters to you and you may need continuous monitoring, ask whether telemetry is available.

Depending on your circumstances, you may also have options as to whether monitoring during labor is continuous or intermittent. Continuous monitoring is typically required if you have an epidural, if you are receiving Pitocin, or if you are high-risk. For low-risk women without those interventions, intermittent monitoring (where your nurse checks the heart rate periodically with a Doppler) is also recognized by ACOG as appropriate.

A Cochrane review of 13 trials and more than 37,000 women compared continuous electronic fetal monitoring with intermittent auscultation. Continuous monitoring did not reduce perinatal mortality and did not change cerebral palsy rates, but it did significantly increase the rate of cesarean and instrumental births. The full evidence on monitoring options is in the fetal heart rate monitoring episode.

Pain Management Options

Hospitals offer the widest range of pain management options of any birth setting. Options fall into two broad categories.

Non-medical options are available anywhere, in any birth setting. These include position changes, hydrotherapy in a shower or tub, breathing and relaxation techniques, counterpressure and massage, TENS units, and continuous labor support. There is a full episode on non-medical pain management options and another on hydrotherapy. The joint ACOG and AAP committee opinion on immersion in water (2016, reaffirmed 2021) supports water immersion during the first stage of labor as a reasonable comfort measure but recommends that birth itself take place on land. In practice, that is why most US hospitals will allow you to labor in a tub or shower but require you to get out for delivery. Not every hospital has a labor tub, if that is an amenity you are interested in check ahead.

Many medical options, like an epidural are only available in a hospital setting. An epidural is by far the most common in US hospitals. The most recent CDC data shows that 75.4% of singleton vaginal births used epidural or spinal anesthesia, with use varying significantly by state, from 50.6% in Alaska to 85.0% in Louisiana.

An epidural typically takes 30 to 45 minutes from the time you ask for one to the time it is fully working. Once it is in place, you will have continuous electronic fetal monitoring, an IV with fluids, and a urinary catheter, because you will not be able to feel your bladder. Your mobility may be limited. Depending on the dosing, you may have some leg movement, but you may have difficulty walking on your own. Epidurals are highly effective for pain. Like any intervention, there are pros and cons. The full evidence is in the epidural episode and across the broader pain management content.

It is also worth noting that you can absolutely have an unmedicated birth in a hospital setting. Plenty of moms plan for and have an unmedicated birth in a hospital. Some mothers find peace of mind in knowing that medical pain relief is available if they decide they want it or if it becomes necessary.

Labor Support and Who Is in the Room

For most of labor, the people in the room with you will be your partner or support person, a labor and delivery nurse, and a doula if you have one. ACOG’s Committee Opinion on Approaches to Limit Intervention During Labor and Birth states that continuous one-to-one emotional support from trained personnel, such as a doula, is associated with improved outcomes, including lower cesarean rates and higher satisfaction. If a doula is something you are considering, the doula episode covers it in more detail. Your doctor or midwife typically arrives later in the process, often around the time you are ready to push, depending on the hospital and the provider.

Hospital policies on visitors and support people vary. Most hospitals allow one or two support people plus a doula. Confirm the current policy at your hospital well before you go in, including whether other family members can be present, whether children can visit, and whether photos or videos are allowed during birth. You should make sure that everything you are planning fits with hospital policies. The last thing you want to do is hire a birth photographer who cannot be present.

Pushing and Birth

When you are close to birth, more people come into the room. There will typically be your nurse, your doctor or midwife, sometimes a second nurse, and a pediatric provider (pediatrician, family physician, or neonatal nurse practitioner) who will be there to check on your baby. The pediatric team is standard at most hospital births. They are not there because anything is expected to go wrong; they are there because if anything does, you want them already in the room.

Assisted Vaginal Delivery

Among the interventions that may only be available in a hospital setting is an assisted vaginal delivery. Hospitals have access to forceps and vacuum extractors if an assisted vaginal delivery becomes necessary. An assisted delivery may be recommended if pushing is prolonged, the baby is in distress, or you are too exhausted to keep pushing effectively. Vacuum is much more common than forceps in the US today; forceps are used in less than 1% of births. Combined, operative vaginal deliveries account for about 4% of all US births. If your provider recommends an assisted delivery, they should walk you through why and what to expect.

Immediately After Birth

After your baby is born, several things happen in quick succession. Unless there is a reason to do otherwise, your baby is typically placed directly on your chest for skin-to-skin contact. This has well-documented benefits, including improved temperature, glucose, and respiratory stability for your baby, as well as reduced stress for you. The umbilical cord can be left intact for delayed cord clamping. Your provider will deliver the placenta in the third stage of labor. If you had a tear or an episiotomy, repair happens around this time. Hospital policies on how quickly skin-to-skin happens and how soon delayed cord clamping is initiated vary. If you have specific preferences, be sure to discuss them with your provider well in advance.

One mandatory hospital step that happens early is identification bands. You, your partner, and your baby get matching bracelets with your information, so there is no question about which baby belongs to which parents. Many hospitals also attach a small security tag to your baby that alerts staff if the baby leaves a designated area.

Newborn Procedures in the First Hour

The first hour after birth is often called the golden hour, a window when uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact supports bonding, breastfeeding, and your baby’s transition to life outside the womb. There are a handful of routine procedures performed on healthy newborns shortly after birth. Your provider will assign an Apgar score at 1 and 5 minutes (Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration) and weigh and measure your baby. Standard procedures in the US include erythromycin eye ointment and a vitamin K injection. Many of these initial procedures can be done with your baby on your chest, so they do not have to interrupt that time. If protecting the golden hour matters to you, speak up. Each procedure has pros and cons, and you have the right to ask questions and make an informed decision or delay procedures that are not urgent.

Newborn Procedures Before Discharge

There are other newborn checks that happen later (typically 24-48 hours) during your hospital stay. These include a newborn metabolic screen (a heel-prick blood test that checks for rare genetic and metabolic conditions), a hearing screen, and a pulse oximetry screen for critical congenital heart defects. Before you are discharged, a pediatric provider will also do a full physical exam of your baby. At some hospitals, this is done by a hospital-based pediatrician or neonatologist; at others, it may be your own pediatrician if they have hospital privileges.

Your Hospital Stay

Most parents stay in the hospital for about 24 to 48 hours after a vaginal birth and 2 to 4 days after a cesarean. The exact length depends on hospital policy, how you and your baby are doing, and your insurance. You will move from the delivery room to a postpartum room a few hours after birth.

Your partner can typically stay overnight with you. Postpartum rooms usually have a chair or a small couch that converts into a bed.

A hospital stay is a chance to take full advantage of being surrounded by experts. There is a lot of new information coming at you, and a lot of new questions: feeding, sleeping, diapering, and what is normal for a newborn. Ask. Most hospitals have a lactation consultant on staff. Even if breastfeeding is going well, ask for a visit. A visit with a lactation consultant can prevent problems before they start.

While you should ask all the questions, if you prefer quiet, you are also welcome to ask for it. The flow of staff in and out of your room can be relentless. It is completely reasonable to ask your nurse to coordinate a few hours of uninterrupted rest. You and your baby need the sleep.

Going Home

Discharge is its own process. Before you leave, you and your baby will both be examined. The hospital staff will go through a stack of information on how to care for your incision or perineum, what to watch for, how to care for your baby’s umbilical cord, signs of jaundice, feeding cues, and when to call your pediatrician. It is a lot. Having your partner present for the discharge conversation helps you both remember it later. You can also record the conversation so you can reference it later if needed.

You will sign discharge paperwork and may schedule your baby’s first pediatrician appointment before you leave. Many hospitals also schedule your postpartum follow-up visits. The discharge process can take several hours. If you are getting ready to go home, start the process as soon as possible.

Most infant car seats have a detachable carrier that pops out of the base, so you will be positioning your newborn in the carrier before you leave the hospital room. If you are unsure whether your baby is positioned correctly, someone at the hospital should be able to help.

The Evidence on Hospital Birth Outcomes

To be clear, if an emergency arises, a hospital is the best place to be. Thankfully, the majority of births do not result in emergencies.

Per the most recent CDC data, the overall US cesarean rate was 32.4% in 2024, up slightly from 32.3% in 2023. The low-risk cesarean rate (first-time mothers with a single, full-term, head-down baby) was 26.6% in 2024. Cesarean rates vary widely by hospital and by provider. Some hospitals have low-risk cesarean rates under 20%; others are above 40%. Asking your hospital and your specific provider for their cesarean rate is a fair question and a useful data point.

Inductions have climbed steadily in hospitals for decades. Recent data analysis shows that the total US induction rate was 31.8% in 2022. The increase reflects both more medically indicated inductions and a shift toward elective inductions at 39 weeks following publication of the ARRIVE trial. Inductions tend to lead to longer hospital stays, more monitoring, and more interventions overall. Depending on the circumstances, they can also clearly be the right choice. The episode on evidence on inducing labor covers the research in detail.

Routine episiotomy is no longer recommended, and rates have come down significantly over the past two decades, but they still vary widely by hospital and provider. Asking your hospital and your specific provider for their episiotomy rate is also fair game, if that is an intervention you would like to avoid.

Like any birth venue, there are pros and cons. The most useful framing for evaluating hospital practice comes from ACOG’s own Committee Opinion on Approaches to Limit Intervention During Labor and Birth. The committee explicitly notes that many common obstetric practices are of limited or uncertain benefit for low-risk women in spontaneous labor, including routine continuous electronic fetal monitoring, routine IV fluids, and routine amniotomy. The same opinion recommends supporting continuous labor support, allowing freedom of movement, and using intermittent auscultation where appropriate. The gap between what the evidence supports and what is routine practice in many hospitals is real. Understanding that gap helps you have a more productive conversation with your provider about what is actually necessary for your specific pregnancy.

This is an evolving picture. As more evidence comes out, more mothers are asking about their options and advocating for themselves, and professional organizations like ACOG are paying attention. The medical model does not change overnight, but it is changing. Hopefully, we will continue to see more shifts toward patient-centered care within the mainstream medical model.

Cost and Insurance

Most health insurance plans cover hospital births as a standard maternity benefit. The average cost of a vaginal birth in the US is about $7,000 with insurance and $12,500 without. A cesarean averages about $10,300 with insurance and $17,000 without. Costs vary widely by state, and what you actually pay depends on the specifics of your plan. Navigating the cost of birth and insurance can be very confusing, and you do not want to get blindsided by bills after you have your baby. It is worth it to do your homework, confirm that your hospital and provider are in-network, and understand what is covered and what will be out of pocket. The episode on reducing birth costs with health insurance and tax-advantaged accounts covers this in detail.

Creating Your Birth Plan

Whether your plan A is to have your baby in a hospital or it is your backup plan if you need to transfer from home or a birth center, the Pregnancy Podcast has many resources to help you create your birth plan. If you are planning a vaginal birth, you should absolutely consider creating a backup plan for a cesarean birth and be familiar with all of your options if that situation arises.

• Get a copy of my birth plan
• Your Birth Plan book
• A Practical Guide to Creating Your Birth Plan
• Become a Premium Member for access to the entire back catalog of episodes ad-free and a copy of the Your Birth Plan book

Backup Planning

For a hospital birth, backup planning is mostly about an unplanned cesarean. If you are planning a vaginal birth, the single most useful preparation step is to know what to expect from a cesarean so that if it happens, you have already thought through your preferences. The episodes on cesarean birth and gentle cesarean cover the experience and all of your options.

Talking to Your Doctor or Midwife

No matter where you plan to give birth, the single most important relationship is with your doctor or midwife. They are your trusted partner during pregnancy, the person who will help you navigate decisions during labor. The more aligned the two of you are before you go into labor, the closer you will get to your desired birth experience.

The best thing you can do to prepare to navigate your birth in a hospital is to take advantage of working out the details and your questions in your prenatal appointments. Ask about hospital policies, your provider’s own practice patterns, and how flexible they are with the things that matter to you. If you and your provider are not on the same page about important aspects of your care, it is far better to find that out at 28 weeks than at 38 weeks. You always have the option to choose or change your doctor or midwife if the fit is not right.

Communication during labor matters as much as communication before. If something is being recommended and you do not understand why, ask. If you want time to think before agreeing to an intervention, say so. Unless something is a true emergency, there is almost always time for a conversation.

Knowing All of Your Options

For the majority of expecting parents, a hospital is the default of where they want to have their baby. It is where 98% of US births happen, it is the venue most insurance plans cover most easily, and it is the only setting equipped to handle every kind of complication. If a hospital birth is a no-brainer for you, fantastic. That is one less decision that you have to think about.

That said, hospitals are not your only option. Birth centers and home births are both increasing in popularity, each with its own pros and cons. I am a massive advocate of knowing all of your options. You cannot make a confident decision about where to have your baby without understanding what is actually available. The more you know, the more confident you will be in whatever venue you choose. This episode is one of three on birth venues. Separate episodes cover birth centers and home birth.

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