I have used midwives all three times, and am a huge proponent of midwives. 🙂 I love it! I live rural and homebirths are not an option for me. 🙁 Midwives need back ups, do one for you and one for babe, and a back up in case someone cannot come, so that is why they don’t allow home births where I am. So anyway, I have had one birth in a birth center in a hospital, one on a birth center out of a hospital, and one in a regular hospital.
The birth center out of the hospital was my fav, by far. It was essentially a home birth, just in someone else’s home. It was not medical at all, just me and 2 midwives, my Darling Husband and our oldest daughter. The birthing suits were like a hotel, they had a play room for my Dear Daughter, a kitchen for my Darling Husband, lol. He was eating a lot of snacks, lol. I loved it, it was my easiest birth, my fastest birth, my least pain birth… Honestly, if I have any more, I will deal with the 2 hour drive and do it again. It was perfect.
The in hospital birth center was my hardest birth, and longest, but I was more comfortable than the regualar hospital birth. The hospital bith was my last birth. I was worried about the long drive to the birth center and opted for it as it was closest to home. Nothing bad per se, but I was super uncomfy, I hated being in the hospital, the environment was so sterile yet I felt it was not clean. It was clean of course, lol, but I just did not like it and my birth was not as posotove as I would have liked. Thank goodness for my midwife, I was out of there within 2 hours after baby was born, so I could get home into my comfy bed.
My wishes were respected when I was in a hospital, but I felt like an animal on display. I wanted a unmedicated birth, and all of the other women there birthing were on epidurals and so had no pain. Which is fine, except they looked at m like I was nuts, lol, and it made me feel a little weird to walk the halls etc. My nurses that were assigned to help the midwife also were not used to people not wanting meds so I did not feel a lot of support from them. Luckily my Darling Husband and doula and midwife kept me on track.
The timelines hospitals have would make me nervous too, so I understand your feelings. So if you have a home birth option, I would take it! Birth center is my next choice, and hospital would be my last choice.