i was looking around eugene for the best place for my husband and i to have our baby and i'm so happy we found the nurse midwifery birth center. this is an excellent freestanding birth center. it is affiliated with the hospital but the midwives who work here believe in and support natural childbirth. they are highly trained and very warm and welcoming. if any complications arise during childbirth, they are able to transport a woman to the hospital but since they only work with low-risk women here, it is rarely necessary. it is the only birth center in oregon certified by the american association of birth centers. what i like most about this birth center is their philosophy that it is the woman herself who births her baby and that they support women and their right to dignity and respect during childbirth. read more

Glucose testing is required to give birth at the Center, which I understand and agreed 100% to. What I did not agree to was to be repeatedly told to choose and consume one of the the "only" two toxic options that are "available". It is NOT the midwives decision themselves that Peace Health chooses to work with a lab company with no real options. But is is immensely disrespectful when in response to telling multiple Midwives of my legitimate allergies, to be told "Here, drink this anyways!" So hospital birth it is. Thanks to there being no freestanding (free from toxic corporate decisions) birth centers in the area, and thanks to the fact that it is not a financial option for me to hire an independent midwife. Last I checked, fruits & honey are pretty high in glucose. Can't we work with a lab that can standardize REAL sugar? Let me know of options that I don't have to be forced to compromise my well-being for. (Also, be aware that you never know which midwife you are going to get. There are no guarantees. I was so happy to go with Colleen Forbes, LDM/Home Midwifery Care and her assistant Victoria. If you have any doubts with Peace Health, I wholeheartedly recommend Colleen. She stays with you the entire process, day & night -prenatal, and 6 weeks postpartum! The best decision I've ever made.) read more

i L.O.V.E.D my experience with Peace Health Midwifery. The midwifes, 6 in total, alternate for your appointments, which gives you a chance to build relationships with each one. Then, whenever you go into labor whoever is on call is the midwife to help you deliver you baby!! Besides delivering babies they also provide Womens Health services. They also have a service called "Baby/Weight Clinic" to mothers that have birthed at Peacehealth. It's such a valuable service to mothers. It's a place where new mothers can meet, talk about their experiences and of course have our babies weighted and talk with Lactation Consultants. The service is wonderful! In fact I haven't missed a Baby/Weight Clinic in 7 weeks! read more

Both my sons were born here (2012 and 2015). Having never birthed in a hospital, I'd have to say the prenatal care is typical (without anything else to go on). I love all the midwives, but 2 of them were very to the point. I wouldn't say harsh, but I will say dismissive. I made a mental note of that the first time, and manipulated my appointments so I wouldn't be seeing those women the second time. This is easy to do, when you make your appointment, just ask who the midwife is on that day! The lactation consultant I had 3 years ago was rude. She even laughed at me on my 2 day checkup, insulting my nursing bra because I was having trouble with it. Thankfully I didn't see her this year, she may have left. My first delivery was a nightmare. It began under unfavourable circumstances. I was sleep deprived, and when I was actually in labour they didn't believe me. I'm sure it's standard to try and rule out false labour especially if it's your first baby, but no matter what we said over the phone, she didn't believe us until I walked in at 7cm. The rest is very vague. I was tired, and in the end, pushed for 3 solid hours with nothing to show for it. This is my main complaint. I was passing out between contractions, I was delusional, and everything was so surreal from my sleep deprivation. My son's head was stuck, and they didn't realise it until 3 hrs and 10 minutes pushing. I was saying no to intervention, but I honestly wish they had been more forceful in their suggestions. It was only when his heart rate went down did they really suggest it. I have to agree with another reviewer's opinion of Pauline, I think this could have gone much much better, and caused huge amounts of anxiety for me the second time around (understatement). In contrast, my second delivery was a dream come true. It wasn't easy, but the midwife who helped me was wonderful. She made all the right suggestions, and was the perfect amount of helpful, forceful when she needed to be, and gentle. This midwife was Chris and she is amazing. The lactation consultants/nurses were nice enough this time around, but one of them stuck her finger in my baby's mouth to stop him from crying, without prompting or my permission, and another said I was breastfeeding like a pro, then the next day when I showed her the cracked and bleeding nipples, said she thought the baby's latch looked shallow, but had refrained from telling me for some reason. I would come here again. I love most of the midwives, and with only the exception of those 2 midwives, they listened and answered my questions, and even entertained my toddler, having him help listen to the heartbeat as a new big brother. read more

I called while I was in active labor. I wanted to come in the midwife on the phone ( Pauline) told me " You're not in labor if you can talk" EXCUSE ME!!! I got to the hospital and I was 7CM dialated WEIRD especially since I live 5 minutes away. Luckily Jessica (who was and is my favorite midwife) showed up and saved me. I had a tramatic hospital experience. I am very upset with what happened. If I had listened to PAULINE I would have accidently free birthed at home ALONE. Thanks a ton! Breastfeeding support here was #1 though. I definitely didn't want to go back after my experience but the IBCLC are the only reason I would. AVOID USING THIS BIRTHING CENTER. read more

I love this place! Seriously, They are honest, kind, open, knowledgable, and very professional. The only thing I could add to the above review is that their lactaion consultation is the best ever. My baby is a year old and they are still available for any questions I have. I can't say enough about how mush I like this place. Only one thing could be better... if they had waterbirth facilities. O well. Maybe when they move over by the new hospital. ?? read more

I had a wonderful experience here with both my prenatal care, and the delivery of my baby, one week ago. I had a home birth with my first, but in Oregon my insurance wouldn't cover it. I decided on the next best thing, the birth center. I was nervous that this facility would be too much like an assembly line, hospital like experience. Prenatal care was good, but lacked the one on one, personalized care you receive when you have just ONE midwife, which was to be expected. The midwives were all very professional and kind. I met Pauline just two days before I went into labor, at my 38 week visit. I instantly clicked with her and felt motherly warmth and caring radiating from her. I hoped then that she was on shift when I went into labor, and I got lucky! She was such an amazing presence to have at my birth. She was there just when I needed her, rubbed my back and used pressure on my hips, just when I needed it. She was more hands on than my home birth midwife before her, who more or less left me to it, not knowing I needed more encouragement. When it came time to push, Pauline suggested I try a few different positions. I liked being given options to try. My favorite part was that she was empathetic and kind and gentle throughout the labor, but firm and matter of fact, when it came time to really concentrate on mustering up my last bit of energy to get my baby out, exactly what I needed. Id like to also mention she didn't try to stall me at home, and came in to meet me at the birthing center immediately after my second call (first call was to let her know I was in labor, she suggested taking a bath so we could gauge where in labor I was). I had a quick, 7.5 hr labor with my first, and I had stressed to the midwives that I felt my second would be even faster. She listened to me and we met as soon as I could get out of the bath, dressed, and to the center. My labor was 4hr 20 mins total and just 2 hrs after I arrived there. Crystal was the midwife assistant and she was incredible during my after care, in which we stayed for 5 hours. I could not have asked for a better experience during my care and delivery, than what I received at this birth center. read more

I used OHSU midwifery with my first born and loved it so I decided to try peace health birth center when I moved to eugene with my second. It was a terrible experience. 1/2 the staff could give two rats ass and spend 5 min with you and rush you out the door and the other 1/2 are like doc where they want to over treat and throw you onto pit the moment you walk into labor and delivery. What ever you do don't visit Pauline, she is rude and a terrible midwife. read more

UPDATE: I started to have a lot of anxiety about delivery a few months after becoming pregnant again, and some negative memories have come up that helped me to be more choosy about care providers this time around. In addition to being delayed to come in and then worrying about my baby's health for months after delivery, I remembered that my midwife at the Peace Health birth center insisted that I push on my back with my legs up against my chest, and then she coached me to push multiple times with each contraction as soon as I was fully dialated. I mentioned to her and other staff after delivery that same day and then at my follow up appointment that I thought I would be trying different pushing positions and be pushing based on urge. I also mentioned feeling upset and surprised by being delayed and then not getting antibiotics for my baby. In both instances, the staff looked uncomfortable and redirected conversation back to how wonderful it must have been for me to deliver quickly. These conversations led me to feel distrustful of the staff in general and then wonder if I tore because of how I was instructed to push. I also wondered if my midwife instructed me to push as she did, not for the sake of my health or my baby's health, but because it was the weekend, they were understaffed, and she was attending another birth (she left pretty soon after my delivery). I'll never know because nobody there wanted to talk to me about it! I have moved to another city/state and interviewed three midwife practices before choosing a free-standing birth center with midwives that are not nurse-midwives. I told my birth story at each practice, and I got the sense that my experience with the Peace Health birth center might be somewhat typical for nurse-midwives who are supervised by doctors and thus work under a medical model. My current providers have a smaller practice (only 3 midwives) and have been way more clear about and consistent with each other about when I should call them/come in, what their beliefs are about the importance of intervention with antibiotics for mothers with group b strep, and their recommendations for pushing. They also welcome questions in a way that was inconsistent for me at Peace Health where 3 out of the 6 midwives seemed to have more forceful personalities and became defensive or annoyed with quesitons while the other three were patient and sweet. I realize now that it has all come back to me that I just didn't have a overall good experience with the Peace Health birth center. I've reduced my rating from 4 to 3 stars given this. I know lots of women who did have good experiences, so I don't think the place or nurse-midwives are bad per se. I think the Peace Health nurse midwives might be more effective in the case of an emergency, for example. I wanted to share my full experience so that other women are informed and can ask about these types of issues if they choose to check out this birth center. read more

They are wonderful for anyone wanting a natural birth. To be honest at the end of my experience I felt a little like a number on a page.

For the first part of my pregnancy, I absolutely adored it here & would have given it a 5/5 review. The midwives are very caring and personable (at least the ones I've met with), so I have no complaints there. About a month ago I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and so I am now forced to birth at the hospital and have things like continual fetal monitoring that I did not want. Again, this is not the fault of the midwives, it is protocol. Just figured I would mention it as they are held to stricter standards since they are affiliated with PeaceHealth, I presume. I will update more about the midwifery care after I give birth. HOWEVER: my reason for coming to write this review occurred just a couple days ago at my 32 week appointment. Connie is usually at the front desk, and she was there this time, but another lady (I didn't get her name) was at the front computer checking patients in. She was friendly with me and I had no issues. That is, until during my 15 minute wait in the waiting room. I sat there as she made calls to patients and very unprofessionally talked about them after she hung up. Every. Single. One. About their insurance situations (particularly bad mouthing a mom whose baby is on OHP), along with trying to gossip about other patients and doctors. Thankfully, Connie (who I love and is the sweetest!) didn't seem interested in the gossip and so it didn't go far, except then the other lady would just start in on someone new. It was just very unprofessional to me, and I'm pretty sure some things she was discussing were definite HIPAA violations. When working in a professional, medical environment you MUST be even more mindful about the things you say & do, particularly within earshot of other patients. It made me very uncomfortable, and makes me cringe that she has access to my information and records! read more