Frequently Asked Questions

Several large, well-structured studies of this issue confirm that out-of-hospital birth attended by a trained, skilled midwife presents no increased risk to mothers or babies. According to the national non-profit organization Childbirth Connection, “At the present time, we do not have evidence that hospital care offers clear safety benefits for low-risk childbearing families, and studies consistently find that it involves higher rates of intervention than other settings.”

All midwives and students at The Birth Cottage maintain current certification in life-saving skills for mother and baby, and have been trained in the identification and management of emergencies.

We are contracted with most insurance companies and with Medicaid. Please call our office for further information regarding your insurance coverage. We also offer a sliding scale and/or flexible payment plans for families who are cash-paying, or who have a high deductible. Many plans do cover our services in full; when you visit for a tour or make your first appointment, our office staff will assist you in determining what your plan does and does not cover.

We are pleased to assist women making an informed choice for VBAC. NH guidelines for VBAC can be found at http://mana.org/laws/laws_nh.htm. Scroll down to Mid 503.

We travel 20 miles, in any direction, from Milford, NH. We do occasionally make exceptions to this rule, but also ask that any mother planning a homebirth be willing to come to the Birth Center instead if multiple labors are happening at once. We make every effort to avoid having to do this, and it is very rare!

If all Birth Cottage midwives are unavailable (due to illness, travel, or emergency) we will have arranged for a back-up midwife to cover the practice. We also occasionally cover for other local midwives. This situation is extremely rare; every effort is made to have one of our own midwives available at all times!

In the event of an emergency, we will transport to the closest hospital. In non-emergency situations where transfer to hospital care becomes necessary during labor we choose the receiving hospital based on travel distance, the anticipated level of care needed, and the family's preference.