Giving birth at a birthing center offers an alternative to the clinical feel of major hospitals. Birth centers provide family-focused care, have a wide array of amenities, and are often designed to mimic the comforts of home. At these facilities, midwives often work collaboratively with a team of medical professionals to provide moms the highest level of care. These five birth centers in Massachusetts offer unique services and amenities to low-risk expectant families. They strive to make parents feel welcomed and cared for through all stages of pregnancy, labor and delivery, and beyond.
Just a note for transparency: Unfortunately, Massachusetts has very few freestanding birth centers (i.e. birth centers that are not part of a hospital campus), so I’m also including some birth centers affiliated with hospitals on this list. I have noted below which centers are free-standing and which are hospital-based.
Five Birth Centers in Massachusetts to Assist You in Having the Birth You Want
Seven Sisters Midwifery
74 Maple Street
Florence, MA 01062
Seven Sisters Midwifery is one of the top birth centers in Massachusetts where women of all ages and backgrounds can love where they receive their medical care. The Seven Sisters’ birth center is free-standing and independently run by nurse midwives. Seven Sisters Midwifery offers friendly, personalized care to meet each client’s unique needs. This family-centered care welcomes all birthing parents, regardless of race, orientation, or identity.
Services at Seven Sisters Midwifery include prenatal care, access to the free-standing birth center, water birth, gynecological care, contraception, preconception counseling, fertility services, lactation support, and postpartum care. The midwife team includes Ginny Miller and Kirsten Kowalski-Lane, seasoned local midwives who have delivered a combined total of over 4,000 babies! Each midwife has over 15 years of experience in her practice.
The free-standing birth center is located in the Florence Village area of Northampton, making it easy for Western Massachusetts families to access quality, patient-centered care as they welcome their new little ones into the world. This Massachusetts birth center is a warm, welcoming, home-like environment where families can feel comfortable and safe. Midwives believe in patient-focused care and empowering moms along with their families as they bring their children into the world. Patients are more than just a time slot here, and the care goes well-beyond clinical issues. Patients feel like part of the family at Seven Sisters Midwifery.
Cambridge Birth Center
10 Camelia Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Cambridge Birth Center (CBC) is an excellent option if you want to give birth in a comfortable, home-like setting that isn’t far from a hospital. CBC is a beautiful place in Massachusetts for pregnant people with low-risk pregnancies to have babies because it is a comfortable, intimate setting. Amenities include a jacuzzi, family room, kitchen, living room, garden, and children’s play area. Partners and families are welcomed into the pregnancy and delivery process as much as possible.
During labor, patients are free to move around the home and garden areas, making for a more comfortable and natural setting than patients would experience in a hospital labor and delivery unit. Moms are supported by warm, friendly midwives who understand their unique needs and offer intimately patient-focused care. The midwives are associated with Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA).
This Massachusetts birth center is located right across from CHA Cambridge Hospital, a Harvard Medical School and Tufts University School of Medicine teaching hospital, affording families the peace of mind that if medical interventions become necessary, help is literally just across the street. That said, the midwives at Cambridge Birth Center are well-versed in natural childbirth and can help you achieve an unmedicated, natural birth if that is your goal.
The Birthplace
Salem Hospital
81 Highland Avenue
Salem, MA 01970
The Birthplace at Salem Hospital offers patients compassionate, family-focused care through pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum. The experienced staff—obstetricians, anesthesiologists, nurses, neonatologists, and certified nurse midwives—provide personalized care to birthing patients, maintaining a commitment to making labor and delivery a positive and memorable experience in which mothers feel supported and empowered.
The team works together to care for each family’s unique needs and preferences. Patients with low-risk pregnancies can deliver at Birthplace at Salem Hospital, while mamas with higher-risk pregnancies can access care through Massachusetts General Hospital. Above all, the health and safety of all families are a top priority.
This birth center in Massachusetts, while part of a hospital, is small (with just five labor and delivery suites!) and has the feel of a more private space. Each delivery suite is designed for comfort, safety, and support. The rooms include jacuzzi tubs and birthing balls for mamas and a chair that converts to a pullout bed for the support person. Both pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain relief options are available for patients during labor. Midwives can patients navigate natural childbirth with minimal or no interventions for low-risk birthing people.
The Birth Center of Anna Jaques Hospital
25 Highland Avenue
Newburyport, MA 01950
The Birth Center of Anna Jaques Hospital (AJH) is a 12-bed birthing unit offering Massachusetts moms and their families top-notch care as they welcome new children into the world. This hospital consistently scores high in patient satisfaction, and a team of competent, compassionate staff also makes each patient feel right at home.
The hospital is affiliated with Beth Israel (BI) Lahey Health, and mothers and babies who need some extra help have access to world-class maternal-fetal medicine specialists and neonatologists in Boston. Despite the affiliation with BI, which is renowned for its care of high-risk mothers and babies (and corresponding interventions), the AJH birth center has a relatively high VBAC success rate (77%) and also offers family-friendly cesareans with immediate skin-to-skin contact in the operating room (if both mama and baby are healthy, of course!).
Every patient is guaranteed a private room for labor, delivery, and recovery with access to the best quality care for you and your baby. Patients can choose to work with midwives or OB/GYNs, and other services include anesthesiology, neonatology, and a wide range of providers who support patients’ personal choices about birth. AJH Birth Center also has a jacuzzi tub for laboring patients (although water births are not offered). This Massachusetts birth center also hosts a variety of classes and support groups on topics such as childbirth, parenting, sibling preparation, and breastfeeding.
Family Life Center for Maternity at Mercy Medical Center
271 Carew Street
Springfield, MA 01104
Mercy Medical Center’s Family Life Center for Maternity provides expert care for new moms in central Massachusetts through exceptional care and a team of attentive, friendly staff in a welcoming, home-like setting with plenty of amenities. The team includes obstetricians, certified nurse midwives, pediatricians, anesthesiologists, nurses, and lactation consultants.
This Massachusetts birth center has 16 beds, a great alternative to large, overwhelming facilities that feel more clinical than welcoming. Above all, this birth center offers patients a comfortable, family-centered environment where patients feel supported from labor to postpartum recovery. Laboring options include birthing balls, hydrotherapy, and nitrous oxide.
Private suites include accommodations for the mother’s support person. The Family Life Center for Maternity also has various family classes, including childbirth preparation, parenting, sibling preparation, and breastfeeding.
Birth Centers in Massachusetts
Giving birth at one of these five birth centers in Massachusetts is an excellent alternative to giving birth in a standard hospital room. For families experiencing low-risk and healthy pregnancies, delivering at a birthing center can be a beautiful, empowering experience, so look into these birth centers today to explore options that could be right for you.
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