Where you give birth changes what happens to you
Ask for the hospital's own numbers.
Rates of intervention vary enormously between hospitals in ways that patient risk does not explain. Many states publish hospital-level rates for low-risk first births.
Worth asking before you commit:
- "What is this hospital's cesarean rate for first-time mothers at term with a single baby head down?"
- "What is the episiotomy rate?"
- "What proportion of women here have continuous monitoring, and is intermittent listening available?"
- "Can I move around in labor, and eat and drink?"
- "What is the policy on how many people can be with me?"
A hospital that cannot answer these is telling you something.
Covered in the essential classes
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More from Before and at the start
This page is educational. It supports the conversation with your own clinicians. It is not consent to any treatment, and it cannot assess you. If you are worried about a symptom now, see urgent warning signs.