Why arent more hospitals offering waterbirth?
Hospitals in the United States and Canada have made incredible advances in the waterbirth movement in the past five years. Monodnock Community Hospital in Peterborough, New Hampshire, was the first hospital in the country to embrace waterbirth and install a permanent birth pool, imported from England. They still offer this option to women and can now look back on almost ten years of great outcomes and lots of satisfied families. The rest of the country has taken some time and there are certain areas of the country that are making greater strides than others. In almost all cases where there are successful waterbirth programs going, they have been started by Certified Nurse Midwives. Midwives are more open to exploring the issue with their clients and doing the research necessary to get protocols accepted in hospitals. Some midwives have even purchased portable birth pool equipment with their own funds in hopes that it would pay for itself by generating more business. In most instances t
