THE AIM OF A BIRTH CENTRE

A Birth Centre’s main aim is to offer comprehensive antenatal education to ensure you are prepared for your labour and parenting. Education ensures you are equipped with all information, thus enabling you to make an informed choice when it comes to birthing matters.  Birth Centres facilitate and advocate natural birth in a natural home-like environment. Of course, if necessary, medical intervention is available.

CONTINUITY OF CARE

COVERED BY MEDICARE
​Continuity of care with a team of midwives you know will be at your birth.
​All appointments and hospital costs covered by Medicare.

PRIVATE ROOM

NATURAL BIRTHING METHODS
​A private family-friendly room to labour, birth and bond with your baby  – where your partner is welcome to stay.
​Access to a range of natural birthing methods and  tools and pain relief options. Of course, medical intervention is at hand if the need arises.

POST-BIRTH SUPPORT

Post birth breastfeeding support and in-home visits.
​Geographical boundaries apply for home visits. 

Advocating Natural Childbirth

​CELEBRATE NATURAL CHILDBIRTH WITH FRIENDS OF THE BIRTH CENTRE

Natural childbirth is universally accepted as the gold standard for optimal mother and child outcomes so why is it becoming so hard to achieve?

Friends of the Birth Centre believe in providing the best pregnancy information and continuity of care to mothers and their partners to facilitate an empowering birth experience regardless of the outcome. Our volunteer organisation was formed to support and promote the safe, ideal, low cost natural birthing environment offered by birth centres within the public health system. Your Birth Centre midwives strive to assist you to achieve the birth you want and support you on that journey. Of course medical intervention is available when and if required.

The Birth Centre difference: empowering birth in a home-like atmosphere, within a secure hospital environment, with midwives you know and trust. The birth centre provides comprehensive antenatal education to ensure you are best prepared for your labour and parenting.

Support Through Pregnancy

​PREGNANCY INFORMATION WHICH ASKS WHAT YOU WANT, NOT JUST TELLS YOU WHAT YOU NEED

​If you are searching for the ‘best obstetrician Brisbane’ then why not consider what you are really after? The Birth Centre is part of the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital and is designed to offer mothers’ support from mid pregnancy to birth and beyond. If the idea of natural childbirth appeals to you, why not talk to a midwife at the Birth Centre to learn more about the possibility of a safe and successful birth in an intimate, home style environment? The midwives will be able to tell you all about the facilities available, including private rooms with double beds, and large birthing pools for the option of a water birth in Brisbane or Queensland.

Let the experienced team of Birth Centre midwives partner with you to deliver your child safely then join our community of mothers for parenting support which lasts a lifetime. Friends of the Birth Centre celebrate the wonderful beginning a birth centre birth brings.

Midwife or OB?

YOU DON’T NEED AN OBSTETRICIAN IN BRISBANE TO GET A PRIVATE ROOM AND THE BEST CARE AVAILABLE

Obstetricians are specialists in birth complications so their reputation as ‘the best’ stems from challenging and unusual births.

If you are at low risk of complications and want a safe, positive birth experience then take a tour of the Birth Centre birth rooms and discover how a private room, your own birthing pool, aromatherapy, a private bathroom and a team of midwives working closely with you is available for free. This public service is funded according to demand so Friends of the Birth Centre is dedicated to promoting this fantastic option for anyone looking at maternity hospitals in Brisbane or Queensland.

Browse our birth stories or come along to one of our events to discover how your birth can begin with a celebration and continue with the friendship of the most wonderful parents groups in Brisbane and Queensland.

Birth Application Process

Helpful links...
​​If your residential address is within the Metro North Health catchment area*, ask your doctor for a referral to the RBWH Birth Centre using the following guidelines:
  • GP Referral (must nominate Birth Centre as preferred option). If you have birthed at the RBWH Birth Centre previously, please also have the GP write the name of one of your midwives on the application.
  • ​You must also complete an online registration form. The GP referral will be matched with your registration form by the hospital. The referral will not progress without a GP referral but at least you can be assured that your request for Birth Centre is received.
  • If you meet the low-risk eligibility criteria, you will be allocated to a midwife and notified. If you do not meet the criteria, you will be notified of your options.
  • The RBWH no longer operates a ballot system. Women are allocated on a first in first served basis.
  • If you meet the eligibility requirements, you can be referred to the Birth Centre at any time during your pregnancy, even during the final trimester.

Please email any questions to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Birth Centre – rbwh[email protected]


*You can check which catchment your suburb is in here: metronorth.health.qld.gov.au/refer-your-patient/catchment-suburbs