The Connecticut Childbirth & Women’s Center, the only free-standing birthing center in the state since 1997, recently changed hands as national trends show that these types of facilities are growing in popularity.
The American Association of Birth Centers‘ latest statistics from 2022 show there are 400 midwifery-led birth centers in the country, up from 365 in 2019, which comes as such services in Connecticut are fewer and more geographically distant.
The Connecticut Childbirth & Women’s Center, located at 94 Locust Ave. in Danbury near Danbury Hospital, was taken over by Women’s Health Connecticut on May 7. Women’s Health Connecticut has 90 network locations in Connecticut as well as Massachusetts.
This change comes at a time where several birthing units at Connecticut hospitals are closing, including ones at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford in 2024, and Windham Hospital in 2023. Sharon Hospital nearly had to close its birthing center but remains open.
Sharon Hospital in Connecticut (Courant File Photo)Paula Greenberg, the president and CEO of Women’s Health Connecticut, said that this is the organization’s first brick-and-mortar location despite being in operation for 28 years. She said she hopes this will lead to more free-standing birthing centers in the state.
According to Greenberg, the founders of the Connecticut Childbirth & Women’s Center were at retirement age and were looking for someone else to take over.
“It made sense for us to apply for the license. We were already going to doing midwifery and this made sense for us to have a licensed birthing center, and this gave us that opportunity. We are grateful to the state we were given this license from the Department of Health,” Greenberg said.
She also pointed to 2023 legislation signed by Gov. Ned Lamont that licensed freestanding birth centers in an effort to increase access to high-quality maternal health services. According to Greenberg, the law removed a lot of “red tape” that made it costly and time consuming to get approval to open a free-standing birthing center. It went into effect in 2024.
“This gives opportunities for more midwifery groups to open up. There are some emerging national chains of birthing centers that will come in the next few years. Where we will open next, we will see where the need is,” she said, adding that the desire for free-standing birthing centers is growing.
“Our facility is about meeting patients where they want to be met,” Greenberg said. “When you think about hospitals, it’s one size fits all. When you come to a birthing center, if you want your family with you, or if there is a certain food you want. The whole person and family dynamic happens at the birthing center. It’s very different.”
Connecticut Childbirth & Women's Center
Women’s Health Connecticut recently took over the Connecticut Childbirth & Women's Center in Danbury to add to its services. (Courtesy of Connecticut Childbirth & Women's Center)Offering choices
According to Women’s Health Connecticut, home births have increased in the state with 271 home births up from 219 in 2019. The organization offers midwifery care for birth center and hospital births and comprehensive women’s health care. Greenberg said a midwifery care is known to reduce cesarean section and low birth rates, adding that home births carry more risk, and a birthing center gives a safer alternative to women. The Danbury facility offers water births and about half of those who give birth choose that method.
The midwives also offer continuity of full scope OB-GYN care, including postpartum care, family planning, contraception and annual well woman checkups.
“We felt as a part of our commitment to women’s health in the state, having this birth center was logical,” Greenberg said. “This is a great location for the greater Fairfield area, but people come from all corners of the state. We are expecting a 13% growth at the birthing center.”
Greenberg said the Connecticut Childbirth & Women’s Center has three birthing rooms staffed by six midwives as well as a group of 10 nurses that rotate as expected mothers go into labor. Greenberg said the facility has been updated on the interior.
“This is a great facility, and we want to let people know we are here and we are ready to meet them,” Greenberg said.
“This is a great alternative for the people of Connecticut. We want to give that one-on-one care that is there from the first pregnancy visit until after the baby is born,” she said. “We have a dedicated group of midwifes. I believe people should get the care they want, and others will want a different environment. This is a great opportunity.”
Cathy Parisi is a director at the center and has been a midwife for more than 30 years. She has worked at the birthing center since 1997.
“For people looking for a birthing center experience it does not appeal to everybody in the general populations,” Parisi said. “A birthing center is generally an out-of-hospital, licensed facility where women are looking to have as much of a holistic and natural birth as possible. They don’t want epidurals. They don’t want caesarian intervention. They want a safe, comfortable experience with providers that they know. That appeals to about 10% of the birthing population, according to the American Association of Birthing Centers.”
Connecticut Childbirth & Women’s Center is a short-stay facility that has a relationship with Danbury Hospital. Parisi said she delivers for many women at the hospital each year. “Either because they love midwives and they aren’t interested in having an out of hospital experience or an unmedicated experience,” she said. “Or they risk out and they find out they are having twins or a breach baby. Anything that is not on a straight and narrow, we do not deliver in the birth center.”
Parisi said the transition over the last four weeks under the new owners has gone smoothly. She added that the new owners are looking to get the word out to residents all over the state that these services are available for them.
“Women’s Health Connecticut is committed to making sure we have what we need to operate as safely and as effectively as possible,” Parisi said. “They have provided us with a lot of wonderful resources monetarily and staffing-wise. I see only growth coming our way now that we have this relationship with Women’s Health Connecticut.”
Looking to grow
Parisi said most of the families who come to Connecticut Childbirth & Women’s Center come from up to an hour-and-a-half away, adding that the state legislation passed in 2023 will open up opportunities for other locations.
“We have people from Norwich, Manhattan and Stamford. To me it’s ridiculous that someone would have to travel 45-90 minutes, 12 times during their pregnancy and then when they are in labor just to get the kind of care they are looking for,” Parisi said.
“The founders of this facility went through that certificate process, and it was painfully expensive and very difficult to get the licensing to open a birthing center. I’m hoping the way this legislation is printed and made, more people will be able to offer this in more areas and will decrease the amount of money that it costs.”
Parisi believes that new locations should be near hospital settings similar to their situation in Danbury. She mentioned locations in lower Fairfield County, the Hartford area and the Norwich/Mystic areas as potential places that could fill a need.
“I think right now the pendulum is swinging toward families doing something a little bit more holistically where they have a little bit more control and a little bit more of a say in their experience,” Parisi said. “They can get things in a birth center that they may not be able to get in the hospital setting. One of those is a water birth. Almost 50% of our families give birth in a birthing tub, which is very important to some people. I think there is only one other facility in Connecticut where they can have a water birth.
“Our mothers also don’t want any separation from their children,” she added. “These are people that want their baby’s skin-to-skin with them. They don’t want their baby going to a nursery for testing or anything like that. They just want their babies with them. They also may want more than just their partners with them.
“We are open to families bringing in other children if they are prepared and have someone to be with them. You could bring in other family members. You can bring in grandmother or cousins. We don’t have a limit, unless there is a safety issue, of who attends the birth of these families. That’s very important and it was very important during COVID, and it remains very important to these families. … It’s just an honor and a privilege to be continuing to care for families from all over the area.”
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