NY1 Report: New Lower Manhattan Birthing Center Has 'Natural Appeal'

NY1 recently featured NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan's birthing center, where mothers can choose to bring their children into the world without constant fetal monitoring, Pitocin to speed up labor or epidurals to dull labor pains.

The center, which has helped about 30 women give birth since it opened in December, is the latest facility of its kind to open in the city, as more women are opting to give birth outside a hospital setting in an effort to take control of their birthing experiences.

"The C-section rate is very high and rising in this country, why is that? And women are tired of being treated more like an object when they come into a place instead of really being a birthing mother. That's where the paradigm has changed," said Dr. Jacques Moritz the Birthing Center Director at NY Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan Hospital.

The Birthing Center aims to make patients feel like they are in a home environment, and features a shower, Jacuzzi, sling and nitrous oxide – also known as laughing gas – to help mothers cope with labor pains.

The center's location within the hospital also makes it easy for mothers to receive medical care if complications arise or to change their minds and move to a more traditional delivery room during labor.

"If you need an epidural, you're not a failure, you tried. No big deal. You leave this room, and you get the medical part with all that comes with it," said Dr. Moritz.