Many women have today started to complain about their bitter experiences, and this has led to the creation of a birthing room at the hospital. The room is made to look more like a warm and cozy room at home, rather than a cold medically equipped room at a hospital. Since birthing is a warm and beautiful experience, most women do feel that they must be provided with an atmosphere conducive to give birth in. A birthing room therefore, would be equipped with articles like rocking chairs, cozy seats, warm lighting, a variety of different kinds of stools, and railings, all of which would allow a woman to try out different birthing positions, and finally choose the one that suited her the best. All the equipment in a birthing room must be designed to accommodate the entire team of medical personnel attending to the woman, and also accommodate her family if need be. At times, however, this factor can be a major disadvantage, and the woman must keep in mind the fact that all the equipment in the room may not actually be needed by her during her delivery; in fact, it may even hamper her when she walks around. There must therefore, be a minimum of clutter within the room, and the woman must be free to move around comfortably. The woman, about to give birth, and deciding on the place where she will deliver her child, must remember that the concept of a birthing room has caught up with fashion makers as well, and today, more and more hospital birthing rooms are made to look more fashionable than they are practical and comfortable. (Hospital Births and Birthing Centers)

One of the major advantages of a birthing room is that the infant can be kept in the same room as the mother, after she has given birth, unlike in a hospital, where the baby is taken immediately to a nursery. (Bruess; Greenberg, 2004) Another advantage is that in a birthing room, the woman gets the benefits of a friendly home atmosphere, while at the same time, enjoying the benefits of a medical team at her disposal. (Choudhri, 2005) A birthing room, especially when it is in a birthing center, it must be noted, will offer only the bare minimum of interventions; no intravenous procedures, no epidural anesthesia, or even electronic monitoring of the infant and the mother. The idea is to have the bets and the most optimum natural birth experience possible. However, in a birthing room in a hospital, all the medical facilities would be available when and if necessary and this would perhaps be a definitely better option than a birthing center or a bare and cold hospital room. (Westheimer; Grunebaum, 1999) The idea of delivering a baby in a birthing room has been labeled as 'an alternative birth movement'. (Klassen, 2001)

However, the choice of having a baby in a hospital, or at home, or in a birthing center, or in a birthing room in a hospital must be left to the woman who is having her baby. The fact must be acknowledged that a woman is a natural and powerful being, and she must be given the choice to make her own decisions about such a major event in her life as giving...

(Weisman, 1994) Today, Alternative Birth Centers or birthing rooms in a hospital are gaining in popularity, an they are, more often than not, meant for low risk pregnancies, and for those women who wish to involve their family or their partner while giving birth, in a homelike atmosphere, with little or no medical intervention. (Phillips, 2003)
Recent research has shown that the place of birth has a direct impact on the pace and quality of delivery, and when the woman feels confident and satisfied with the choice that she has made about her place of delivery, then she can be sure that her delivery would be as uncomplicated and natural as she desired it to be. A birthing room in a hospital, with the bare minimum of medical intervention and a homely atmosphere, with provisions for the partner and the family of the woman to take part in the amazing phenomenon of birth would be the ideal option for today's woman having a baby, unless she has had complications during her pregnancy, for which a hospital setting would be a much better option. Having a safe and comfortable and natural delivery is the ideal of every woman on earth, and if a hospital facilitates this, then the woman would be obliged forever to the hospital and the medical team that helped create this setting and put it into action. (Evidence regarding place of birth)

References

Brenner, David. (2003) "I think there's a terrorist in my soup: how to survive personal and word problems" Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Bruess, Clint E; Greenberg, Jerrold S. (2004) "Sexuality Education, Theory and Practice" Jones and Bartlett Publishers

Choudhri, Nihara K. (2005) "Parent Savvy, Straight Answers to your family's financial"

Nolo.

Evidence regarding place of birth" Retrieved at http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/whoplace.html. Accessed 25 July, 2006

Glicksman, Michele Isaacs; Gliksman, Isaacs MD; DiGeronimo, Theresa Foy. (2004) The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth. Alpha Books.

Hospital Births and Birthing Centers" Retrieved at http://www.pregnancy-info.net/hospital_births.html. Accessed 25 July, 2006

Klassen, Pamela E. (2001) "Blessed Events, religion and home birth in America" Princeton

Phillips, Celeste R. (2003) "Family Centered Maternity Care"

Jones and Bartlett Publishers

Recommendations for development of LDRP and Birthing rooms. Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services, Bureau of Health Systems. Retrieved From ht tp:/ / www.michigan.gov/documents/cis_bhs_fhs_ldrp_37382_7.pdf. Accessed 25 July, 2006

Turkel, Kathleen Doherty. (1995) "Women, power and childbirth"

Bergin Garvey/Greenwood

Weisman, Leslie Kanes. (1994) "Discrimination by Design, a Feminist Critique of the man- made environment" University of Illinois Press

Westheimer, Ruth K; Grunebaum, Amos. (1999) "Dr. Ruth's pregnancy guide for couples"

Routledge (UK)