Hospitals that allow labor in shower or tub

hiketheworld

Does anyone know which hospitals in manhattan have showers or tubs they allow you to labor in? I'm pretty sure no hospital in manhattan has tubs except the st Luke's birth center which I can't use. I want to try a natural birth but it seems like nyc hospitals make that pretty darn difficult.

knirish1

The regular delivery rooms at St. Luke's have showers which they will let you use. You can't deliver there in there, but they will absolutely let you labor in the shower. I believe NYU also has them. 

nomar610

I ran across the same problem while i was pregos, I was unable to find a hospital with a tub.  The only place that will allow you to give birth in a tub is St.Luke's. All hospitals have showers in the bathroom which you can labor while taking a shower but they won't let you give birth.  

Good Luck! 

P.S. if you're close to NJ Jersey City Medical Center has tubs which they will let you labor in but not give birth.  Only birthing centers allow you to give birth in a tub.   

citybirths

Hi
I am the owner of CIty BIrths, which provides educational classes to new and expecting parents so I spend a lot of time listening to birth stories and experiences, I am also a Cert doula and have been at almost all the hospitals in NYC at this point.

Actually you can't give birth in any tub, including the birth center, yes it happens from time to time but mostly you can not give birth in tub.

While the hospitals have showers you are correct they don't have tubs, SLR does have small half tubs but I have never seen pg women get in there.  Good thing to bring is exercise ball and sit on it in shower, let shower run on your lower back, this will help.

As long as you are on intermittent monitoring, meaning on a fetal monitor so 30 mins every two hours and you should be ok to use shower.  Once you have any medication by injection of mouth you are on a monitor and can't shower.  You should have a discussion with your OB before to see what their "normal" protocal is on monitoring during labor.  I like to ask open ended questions so something like "what is your policy on fetal monitoring"  if your OB comes back with "well as long as everything is looking good and you don't have any medications I am fine with intermittent"  then you have your answer, if they say they put all moms on monitor then you know you need to have a talk about how you can avoid this. 
I hope this makes sense?  Happy to discuss more if you would like
Warmly
Andrea
www.citybirths.com
info@citybirths.com

dkny155

Nassau County Medical Center does I saw it on A Baby Story on TLC.