Saint Mary's Hospital is proud to be the first hospital in Connecticut to offer growing families a broad range of birth options all within a safe, comfortable and caring hospital setting. Nearly 15 years ago, Saint Mary's Hospital's Women and Infants' Center was one of the first hospitals in Connecticut to offer labor, delivery and postpartum care to each maternity patient in comfortable, private birthing suites. Ten years later, Saint Mary's was the first in Connecticut to offer expectant mothers the option to give birth in a soothing tub of water. Saint Mary's Hospital made Connecticut childbirth history once again on January 16, 2000, by celebrating the first birth in The Birthplace, Connecticut's only in-hospital birth center.

The Birthplace at Saint Mary's Hospital is the only birth center in Connecticut located in a hospital. It was developed with a single objective — to offer families the broadest range of safe, individualized childbearing services available.

At Saint Mary's Hospital, we believe your baby's birth is more than a biological event. We see childbirth as a natural life event to be experienced personally, spiritually and culturally. That's why we are proud to offer you the opportunity to plan and celebrate your childbirth experience based on your own individual needs and expectations.

Like other free-standing birth centers, The Birthplace at Saint Mary's is open to women with low risk pregnancies who desire the most natural childbirth experience possible with the guidance and support of a certified nurse-midwife working collaboratively with an board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist.

Located within the Women and Infants' Center, The Birthplace at Saint Mary's consists of two, tastefully appointed double-bed suites with a family room and kitchenette. A whirlpool tub is also available for mothers who choose to labor and give birth underwater in the comfort of a warm bath. If they wish, parents may invite grandparents, their older children, a professional doula or other support persons to accompany them during childbirth in The Birthplace. Family bonding starts the moment your baby is born because in The Birthplace, mother and infant stay together until discharge, usually within six to 12 hours after birth.

The Birthplace has a lending library with resources for expectant mothers and their families. The family room is the setting for classes in childbirth preparation, postpartum care and early baby care to help parents prepare for their new family's departure from The Birthplace. It also serves as the meeting place for Mother to Mother, a new mothers' support group initiated by The Birthplace's Community Advisory Board for mothers who have delivered in The Birthplace and for women from throughout the communities served by Saint Mary's. An open-model birth center, The Birthplace is open to all certified nurse-midwives with privileges at Saint Mary's Hospital. A partner and close advisor in your prenatal care, your nurse-midwife will be with you to assist throughout labor, delivery and the postpartum period, including assistance with early breastfeeding, and a home visit within 24 hours of discharge.

If an emergency arises at any point during your childbirth experience at the Birthplace, expert medical care and state-of-the-art technology are available just down the hall within the Women and Infants' Center. Saint Mary's Hospital is home to a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and on-staff neonatal specialists.

For more information or to schedule a tour of The Birthplace at Saint Mary's Hospital, call us at (203) 709-7270. We look forward to meeting you.