The Allen Birthing Center, located in historic downtown Allen Texas, is the birthing center my daughter chose to deliver her baby in May 2009. Allen Birthing Center is a free-standing birth center, staffed by 3 experienced and highly-educated certified nurse-midwives (CNMs), offering prenatal care, labor support, delivery and exam of the newborn, postpartum care, well-woman exams, family planning, and primary care.

As soon as my daughter learned about her pregnancy, she had what seemed like a million questions and fears for a first-time mother, which is understandable. We discussed birthing options, the average cost of delivering a baby in a hospital vs. a birthing center or homebirth, pros and cons of each option etc, so she could make an informed choice for herself and her baby.

I was very careful to just explain the facts of each option because I didn’t want her to feel any pressure or influence from me about how or where to have her baby. Just because I chose the home birth option to deliver her and her older brother, and hospital births for my first four children, doesn’t mean she should make the same choice I did.

My daughter asked me, “If you could do it all over again, which option would you choose now?” I had to be honest and tell her that if I had known years ago about certified midwives, birthing centers and homebirth options, I would have chosen to give birth to each of my children at home. The differences between laboring and delivering a baby in a hospital vs. delivering at home or at a birthing center for low-risk pregnancies are huge.

I suggested she check out Ricki Lake’s Business of Being Born documentary, and explained that she needed to create a birth plan where she would list her personal preferences for labor and delivery, including how and where she would decide to give birth. I also explained that she needed to decided whether or not she wanted pain medication or an epidural for pain relief during labor, because that would have everything to do with where she would labor and deliver her baby.

After doing a considerable amount of research into Dallas/Collin County birthing centers and midwifery, she and the baby’s father decided to tour the Allen Birthing Center and interview the certified midwives, Rebecca “Becky” Burpo, Lana Amelia “Amy” Giles and Elizabeth “Betty” Hoffman, to get answers to their questions from the experts.

The Allen Birthing Center’s philosophy about childbirth is equal to that of my daughter and the baby‘s father – that birth is a normal process that needs very little intervention, but support and encouragement throughout their pregnancy, labor and delivery would be provided, ensuring their personal natural childbirth choices were respected.

My daughter did not want an epidural or any pain medications at all during labor, and she was thrilled with the prospect of being able to move around freely at the birthing center during labor vs. staying flat on her back in a hospital labor room, as well as the waterbirth option if she so chose. Knowing that the Allen Birthing Center works in close cooperation with nearby hospitals reassured her even more, just in case something unplanned or unforeseen were to occur and she needed to be rushed to the hospital for an emergency c-section.

In order to find Texas birth centers and midwives in our area, we checked out the Association of Texas Midwives (ATM) and the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC) website for listings by state and county. Allen Birthing Center is the only natural birth center in all of Collin County, but I found a total of 12 birthing centers in Texas:

Allen Birthing Center
406 West Main Street
Allen, TX 75013
Tel. 214-495-9911
Website: www.allenbirthingcenter.com
Contact: Rebecca Burpo, Director

Birth and Women’s Center
3100 Swiss Ave
Dallas, TX 75204
Tel. 214-821-8190
Website: www.birthcenter.net
Contact: Cherie Boettcher, Director

Gentle Beginnings Birth Center
1817 Harwood Court
Hurst, TX 76054
Tel. 817-479-0124
Website: http://www.gentlebeginningsbc.com
Contact: Ann Crowell

Inanna Birth & Women’s Care
1823 N Locust Street
Denton, TX 76201
Tel. 940-483-1569
Website: http://www.inannabirth.com
Contact: Jean Sala, Owner

Special Beginnings
513 W Church Street
Grand Prairie, TX 75050
Tel. 972-642-3446
Website: http://www.special-beginnings.com
Contact: Betty Winford

North Houston Birth Center
7007 N. Freeway #435
Houston, TX 77076
Tel. 713-699-4211
Website: http://www.northhoustonbirthcenter.com
Contact: Kathleen Vande Giessen, CNM

Reunion Women’s Health & Birth Center
201 Kingwood Medical Drive # B 300
Kingwood, TX 77339
Tel. 281-359-2229
Website: www.reunionmidwives.com
Contact: Janet Little, Midwife/Owner

Bay Area Birth Center
3210 Strawberry Road
Pasadena, TX 77504
Tel. 713-472-5525
Website: http://www.houstonbirthcenter.com
Contact: Jackie Griggs, Director

Rite of Passage Women’s Health & Birth Center
2206 E Broadway, Ste E
Pearland, TX 77581
Tel. 281-485-2886
Website: www.pearlandbirthcenter.com
Contact: Bernadette Olivier, Director/Owner

Lovers Lane Birth Center at Cottonwood
304 S Cottonwood Suite A
Richardson, TX 75080
Tel. 214-366-3579
Website: http://www.dallasmidwife.com
Contact: Dinah Waranch, Owner

San Antonio Birth Center
7272 Wurzbach #101
San Antonio, TX 78240
Tel. 210-593-0462
Website: http://www.birthcentersa.com
Contact: Nicole Voge, Office Manager

Nativiti Women’s Health & Birth Center
26614 Oakridge Dr
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Tel. 281-296-2333
Website: www.nativiti.com
Contact: Melanie Dossey, Director/Owner

My daughter’s labor and delivery at the Allen Birthing Center went very well. Her labor lasted 10 1/2 hours, which is pretty darn good for a first-timer, and she went from 6cm to 10cm (complete) in just 40 minutes! She had quite a bit of back labor, which can be extra painful if you’re stuck laying flat on your back in a hospital labor room for the doctors and nurses convenience, but she didn’t so much as whimper, cry or scream during any of her labor pains. She’s a tough cookie! She was able to walk around at will, have her back massaged by the baby’s father, stand/sit in the shower with strong water flow massaging her sore back and eventually moved to deliver her baby girl by waterbirth in the tub.

Each of the two birthing suites at the Allen Birthing Center are very comfortable and decorated beautifully, and the website provides photos of the birth center inside and out for expectant mothers to check out before scheduling a free consultation visit and tour. The total cost of pre-natal care, labor, delivery and aftercare for both mother and baby was only $4750.00 – PLUS they file medical insurance for patients – and they even allow payment plans. What’s not to like about a birthing center staffed by phenomenal experienced midwives, and a cost that even young expectant parents can manage to afford on their own? My daughter said that if she chooses to have any more children, that she’ll definitely use a birthing center and midwives again, and may even decide on a homebirth.

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Believe it or not, expectant fathers have just as many questions, concerns, worries and doubts about pregnancy and parenthood as expectant mothers do. Unfortunately, there aren’t nearly as many resources and helpful literature available for the father-to-be to get advice and helpful tips about pregnancy as there are for the mother-to-be. Most pregnancy books tell women to eat right, exercise, and maintain a low-stress lifestyle, but they offer very little in the way of explanation of how such choices affect the baby, and those books don’t address the concerns of the dad-to-be.

People tend to forget that new dads also have valid feelings, hopes, concerns and fears about pregnancy, childbirth, and their new babies. Studies show that men experience intense changes in their levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and relationship satisfaction during pregnancy. Why should a father-to-be even concern himself?, you may be asking yourself. After all, he doesn’t have to carry the fetus, deal with morning sickness, the mood swings, weird cravings at 2 a.m., go through labor pains, or give birth to an 8-pound bowling ball!

It’s hard for some people to understand that the expectant father’s physical distance from the process of pregnancy brings its own stress and worries. Most men have a positive reaction to finding out about the pregnancy, but may also have doubts, confusion and fear about all the changes taking place. “What kind of father will I be?” What is happening inside his partner’s body during conception, pregnancy, labor and delivery affects the father physically and emotionally just as much as it does the mother.

Considering the increasing number of fathers who want to be actively involved in the pregnancy and parenting process, from the moment it is learned that a baby is on the way, it’s about time father’s were provided straight-forward facts from a male expert about everything that goes on throughout pregnancy, as well as providing facts and tips about parenting.

Armin A. Brott and Jennifer Ash have collaborated on the Second Edition of The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads-to-Be, and is in my opinion the best guidebook for fathers- and mothers-to-be in their journey through the nine months of pregnancy and beyond, far and above any other pregnancy book for men or woman combined. Also included in this edition are chapters on labor and delivery, a chapter on Cesarean sections, as well as a chapter that addresses questions and concerns you may have regarding caring for and getting to know your baby in the first few weeks after bringing him or her home.

Readers of the First Edition of The Expectant Father took great exception to Brott’s seeming overuse of words like “You” and “Your”, causing some readers to feel that Brott was suggesting that fathers were to control all the decision-making in regards to their partner’s pregnancy. My opinion is that those readers were themselves being oversensitive, as subsequent words and sentences made clear (at least to me) that Brott’s intent was for the father- and mother-to-be to make necessary decisions together, rather than feel forced into anything by overbearing physicians, hospitals, nurses and other caregivers.

If you’re expecting your first child, you’re in for a number of surprises, most of them being good ones. Pregnancy can begin with a wide range of emotions for the father (and the mother), stimulating feelings of both fear and hope, so understanding your feelings during this time can help you begin to see how your role from man to dad is developing, and how you can best stay connected and involved in the pregnancy right alongside the mother. Men who are about to become dads often express concern about their partner’s and the baby’s health, worries about money (How are we going to afford this?), and concerns about what type of father you will be (Will I be a good dad?).

This bestselling book, The Expectant Father – now fully updated and expanded, is an information-packed, month-by-month guide to all the emotional, financial, and physical changes the father-to-be may experience during the course of his partner’s pregnancy. The book divides each month of pregnancy into four categories: “What She’s Going Through” (physical and emotion changes), “What’s Going On with the Baby” (physical progress), “What You’re Going Through” (physical and emotional changes) and “Staying Involved” (tips on supporting and encouraging the pregnant partner).

Including wisdom from top experts in the field, from obstetricians and birth-class instructors to psychologists and sociologists, the Second Edition of The Expectant Father includes the latest research and is filled with sound advice and practical tips for men, such as:

• How to afford a pregnancy

• Who will help deliver the baby?

• How much is this going to cost?

• Questions about insurance coverage

• What changes may we expect to our sex lives?

• Should we have the baby in the hospital or at home?

• How much does a mid-wife cost?

• Special ways to prepare if you’re adopting a baby

• How to juggle your work and family values

• How to make sense of your conflicting emotions

• What childbirth classes don’t teach you

• How to manage if you are expecting more than one baby

• Ways to support and encourage your partner throughout the pregnancy

• How to deal with the obstacles society places in the way of involved fathers

• What are the nutritional needs of the mother-to-be?

There is discussion on prenatal communication, sex during pregnancy, finding childcare, dealing with late-night wake-ups, changing diapers, dressing babies and young children, sex after pregnancy etc., all from the expectant father’s point of view. Time magazine has penned Brott with the nickname “the superdad’s superdad” and for very good reason. The Expectant Father concludes with an informative chapter called “Fathering Today,” which provides tips on how to overcome the many obstacles contemporary fathers may experience in their role as an actively involved dad.

I feel I should also mention that while reading the book, there may very well be feelings or situations discussed in, for example, the third-month chapter that you may not experience until the sixth or seventh-month, or vice-versa as each and every pregnancy is different. Also added to this edition is information for adoptive fathers, expectant fathers of multiples – twins, triplets, or more.

At the very end of the book is a list of Resources, including phone numbers, addresses, website addresses, contact email addresses where you and your partner can dig even deeper (if that’s possible) into information you may be interested in. My favorite thing about The Expectant Father is that the book is also available in an Audiobook for dads- and moms-to-be to listen to while commuting to and from work, or while simply driving in their car. The Expectant Father is also available as a Father Knows Best -3 Pack Deal! which allows interested readers the opportunity to get all three amazing books in a set. Truly an awesome, super-pack of information, and most definitely a must-read for all new dads.

Related Articles:
Birthing Options – Natural Childbirth Options For Expectant Mothers
Baby Needs Checklist – Basic Baby Needs for Newborn Babies
Ricki Lake’s The Business of Being Born
Pregnant Teenagers – Unplanned Teenage Pregnancy

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