Margaret Buxton, DNP, CNM, clinical director of the Nashville Baby+Company, could not have planned it any better if she tried.
After nine months, Nashville’s only freestanding birthing center delivered its 100th baby on May 8 — Mother’s Day.
The occasion was celebrated during a recent open house with a theme of “100 donuts for 100 babies.”
The Baby+Company facility, operated in collaboration with Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), delivered its first baby shortly after Labor Day.
Buxton couldn’t be happier with the progress Baby+Company has made since first opening its doors in August 2015.
“We are right where we expected to be,” Buxton said. “We wanted that slow and steady growth and we are seeing our volume increase. We have about 250 families we are taking care of right now who are pregnant. That is a huge number.”
With a goal of about 40 births a month, the center already has 30-40 births expected each month through August.
The center, staffed by certified nurse midwives from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN), offers an enhanced birthing environment, with comfortable birthing suites and deep soaking tubs, family rooms, a full kitchen and a living room area for families.
Clinical services available at Baby+Company include pre-natal, labor and delivery, postpartum, and newborn care, as well as annual exams, pre-conception and birth control.
Clinical care is supplemented by a complete wellness and educational program open to all new and expectant families, including childbirth and newborn care education, nutritional counseling, pre- and post-natal yoga and new mother groups.
The center also offers community events focused on women, pregnancy and young families.
“Everything is done at the birthing center,” Buxton said. “We have a really innovative care model that is very education saturated.”
The concept resonated with Andria Jordan, mother to Noah, the center’s 100th baby.
Jordan was impressed with the birthing center’s model of care during a tour last year.
“I was so excited about Baby+Company because you could still have a natural birth, but if it didn’t work out, there was intervention available in close proximity at Vanderbilt,” Jordan said. “That was a big draw for us.
“The environment is so calm, peaceful and supportive. And I am such an advocate of women having choices for reproductive care. I love that Nashville has this option in addition to other choices.”
Jordan was thrilled that her four-year-old daughter, Emma Claire, was able to pile in bed with her and her husband, Frank, soon after Noah was born, allowing them to sleep as a family.
“It was so important for her to be included,” Jordan said. “It is important when a family is growing that the existing children feel a part of the experience. They do a great job of that.
Baby+Company is geared for low-risk pregnant women seeking delivery options with no anesthesia. Currently they operate five in the United States.
“Women should have safe care options for whatever environment they want to have their baby in,” Buxton said. “And we are so fortunate for the collaborative experience with fellow physicians and midwives at Vanderbilt to provide seamless care during a hospital birth to our clients who are not able to birth at the center. That’s a wonderful gift.”
