Mercy Birthing Center Midwifery Care - St. Louis

Welcome to the Mercy Birthing Center Midwifery Care at Mercy Hospital St. Louis. Mercy recognizes that many women are looking for a natural childbirth experience with midwives, so we opened the Mercy Birthing Center Midwifery Care, the area’s first in-hospital low-risk birthing center managed by certified nurse midwives.

Our first baby was born on opening day, Labor Day, 2014. Since then, we have helped deliver more than 2,000 babies at Mercy Birthing Center Midwifery Care.

The Birthing Center is on the first floor of the hospital, next to the Children’s Tower elevators. The four birthing suites are decorated in warm, beautiful colors, creating a calming ambience, resembling bedrooms in your home. Each suite has a queen-size bed, showers and large tubs for labor. 

The Birthing Center also includes a central living room area for family members, a kitchen, a large room for natural childbirth classes and a separate clinical area where you will visit your midwife each month of your pregnancy to prepare for your natural birth. You may want to view our Virtual Tour of the Mercy Birthing Center. 

If you are looking for a natural childbirth experience, we offer childbirth classes for you and your partner to learn more about it. You’ll also be encouraged to take nutrition and fitness classes at the Birthing Center to help you prepare throughout your pregnancy. View available dates and times of all our birthing center classes. View a list of all maternity classes offered at Mercy Hospital St. Louis.

A Home-Like Birth

The Birthing Center offers women a home-like birth, with high touch and low intervention. Certified nurse midwives help women deliver their babies in a more natural environment. Doulas and family members are welcome to be part of the birthing experience. We have several offerings for moms seeking a more natural childbirth:

• VBACs (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean section) after one previous cesarean delivery, with or without one previous vaginal delivery
• Well Women Care - this has been requested by our moms who have previously given birth in our Birthing Center
• Nitrous oxide to help women get over the hump of discomfort during labor - controlled by mom when she needs it. For more information, read the story about nitrous oxide in our newsroom.

The Mercy Birthing Center Midwifery Care is run by midwives with masters and doctoral degrees - all certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB). They attend your baby's birth and provide prenatal care, postpartum care and early newborn care. You will receive the same testing opportunities, such as genetic screening and ultrasound, as you would with a physician. In the event of a medical need, our nurse midwives collaborate with Mercy obstetricians. If you need to transfer to our regular Labor and Birth suites during your labor, your nurse midwife with will go with you upstairs and continue your care.

Most mothers and babies go home with their families four to six hours after giving birth and return the next day for follow-up care, or move to a Mother/Baby room for a traditional 1-2 day stay. We will check on both of you after you go home. Your baby receives the same testing after birth that all newborn babies receive at Mercy.

The cost of this type of natural birth is similar to a traditional birth, and it is covered by most insurance plans. We also have self-pay options for those without health insurance.

Find out more about our guidelines for a low-risk birth at Mercy Birthing Center.

For more information on Mercy Birthing Center Midwifery Care, please call 314-251-7955.