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hvparent.com n Hudson Valley Parent 35 her daughter's belly wasn't growing at the same rate as the rest of her body. Bloise was admitted to the hospital and induced while a midwife worked with the doctors. "It was the best possible care I could have had without delivering in the birthing center," she says. Bloise realized that she had birthing options and made the decisions that were right for her. The options have evolved "Obstetric care has evolved greatly over the last 10 years and for the better," says Marcel Hinds, an obstetrician and gynecologist with Health Quest Medical Practice. "The paternalistic approach to childbirth, which has led to a lot of patient By LISA IANNUCCI S uzanne Schmidt Bloise has a friend in Seattle who delivered her baby at a birthing center four years ago. "That was the first time I had ever heard of not using a hospital," says the Monroe mom who gave birth to her daughter, Charlotte May, 18 months ago. "My husband and I went on a tour and I knew instantly that's what I wanted," says Bloise. "It had offices downstairs and basically an apartment upstairs: kitchen, living room, bedrooms and bathrooms set up for birthing." Her pregnancy was normal until the last eight weeks when they sent her for a sonogram and noticed that mistrust, has become extinct. The care of a woman and her baby is less medically oriented, more flexible and focuses more on patient experience." Essentially, expectant mothers still have the same birthing options they had a decade or two ago -- a cesarean section, natural birth, home birth and water birth, but according to Kate Desa, director of maternity services at the New Garden Birth Center at Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck, the handling of these options is what has changed. Know your choices "We make every attempt to make the cesarean birth as much like a vaginal delivery as possible," says Desa. The New Garden Birth Center has a family-centered cesarean center. "We use a drape that allows parents to see the baby being born," says Desa. "The baby also goes skin to skin with mom after delivery, in order to allow that bonding time and make breastfeeding easier and to try to take away some of that very clinical feel of a cesarean section." The lights are dimmed and the room is warmed. "We really don't separate mom and baby during cesarean any longer," she says. "The baby stays in there with a dedicated nurse to help her and mom during the procedure, and then they both go back to the room together." For a vaginal delivery, Desa says now the entire family is encouraged to have that time together too. "We So, you're having a baby… now what? Learn about the choices from moms who have been there Suzanne Bloise wanted to deliver at a birthing center, but due to complications, gave birth in a hospital with help from a mid-wife and doctor. She had birthing options, and so do you. (Continued on Page 36)