Difference between birthing center and hospital?

Question

I don’t understand what the difference is? Where I’ll be giving birth there’s a “birthing center” but it’s in the hospital so I don’t really understand

Answer

My hospital has a birth center. They are just more welcoming to more natural labors and you can have a midwife or an OB. Ours provides birthing tubs and are more knowledgeable about natural birthing practices whereas the first hospital I gave birth at was very into the medical interventions.

Answer

It depends. Hospital birthing centers in my area are like really nice L&D wards but are generally run by midwives with some sort of OB transfer agreement. Hospital birthing centers are more likely able to offer more medical intervention is desired or wanted. The hospital birthing center I toured looked less hospital like. The rooms had beds that weren’t as medical bed looking. There was less equipment out and about. It was also the only location for L&D that had bath tubs. The regular rooms just had showers for heat therapy. 
Stand alone birthing centers in my area are set up more like “homes” or like a doctors office with bedrooms. They are also run by midwives. Some stand alone centers have an OB transfer agreement with a local OB if something were to go wrong but not all do. Stand alone birthing centers also have limitations on what medical interventions they can take.

Difference between birthing center and hospital?

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