Austin Area Birthing Center - Your Austin Birth Center

STATISTICS are in for 2009!

12% went to the hospital during labor.

Of the 12% that were transported, 69% had a C-section and 31% had a vaginal delivery.

In other words, over two-thirds of the transported moms had a C-section.

AABC had 12 vaginal births after previous C-sections and 11 were successfully delivered at AABC without transport or complication.

Austin Area Birthing Center's Holiday Open House

Watch a Video of AABC's Holiday Open House December 19th

Free Breast Feeding Class - Saturday Feb 20th

A free informative breast feeding class for AABC clients and potential clients

Joan Smith, nurse midwife, our clinical director will be teaching a class on breast feeding here at AABC on Saturday February 20, 2010 from 2pm - 4pm.

The class will feature a video and refreshments will be provided. Joan has experience with teaching breast feeding, extensive study of breast feeding and has breast fed her own twins!

Please RSVP early if you plan on attending....346-3224. The class is open to all AABC clients and potential clients but space is limited. Don't miss the wonderful opportunity.

AABC South Austin Location to Open in May - See Our Pictures

Austin Area Birthing Center is busy designing our new south Austin location on West William Cannon Drive between West Gate Blvd and Manchaca Rd. We are working with an architect, space planner and interior designer to create a birthing center unlike anything Austin has seen before! The south Austin location will have examination rooms, three beautifully decorated birthing rooms each with their own bathroom and a huge teaching room for birthing classes.

Our south Austin birthing center will be staffed with the same friendly, knowledgeable and qualified Certified Nurse Midwives as youâ��ve come to know and love in our Duval location. In addition, we will offer bi-lingual birthing classes. The estimated opening date for our new south Austin birthing center is May, 2010.

We've created a new website so that you can follow our progress. Please visit www.austinabcsouth.com to see pictures and read articles about our new South Ausitn location.

For the most current information about what's going on at Austin ABC, visit our Facebook page, we update it daily.

Free Pregnancy Tests

Austin Area Birthing Center is offering free Pregnancy Tests. Just make an appointment ahead of time by calling our office at 512-346-3224. The test takes approximately 5 minutes, and no insurance is required...it's Free!

Will AABC accept my insurance?

Almost all insurance companies pay for Certified Nurse Midwives and Licensed Birthing Centers! AABC accepts BCBS, Aetna PPO, Cigna, Great West, United, PCHS, Pacific Life and too many smaller companies to list.

Just like visiting your General Practitioner or your Dentist, call our office ahead of time and weâ��ll check your insurance coverage for you. Some networks consider us in-network others out-of-network. Our fees are so low in comparison to a Hospital births that even if we are paid at "out of network rates" it's still shocking affordable to come to AABC.

Why not get better more personalized care and pay less than the hospital?

Information Resource for VBAC

Looking for more information about Vaginal Birth After Cesarean? A good resource is the International Recovery Advocacy website at www.ican-online.org

H1N1 Virus - Preventive Steps

Dr. Vinay Goyal is an MBBS, DRM, DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid specialist), with over 20 years of clinical experience. He has worked in institutions like Hinduja Hospital, Bombay Hospital, Saifee Hospital, Tata Memorial, etc. Presently, he is heading our Nuclear Medicine Department and Thyroid Clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre, Malad.

Dr. Goyal shares the following steps to reduce the likehood of becoming infected with either the seasonal flue or the H1N1 virus:

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth and/or throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible not coming into contact with the H1N1 virus in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and the development of secondary infections, practice some very simple steps. These recommendations haven't been fully detailed in most official communications and can be successfully implemented instead of (institutions) focusing on how to stockpile N95 or Tamiflu:

Practice frequent hand-washing (this preventative strategy is well highlighted in all official communications) and use alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

Stick to a strict "Hands-off-the-face" approach. In other words, resist all temptation to touch any part of your face or eyes (unless you want to eat, bathe -- or slap someone else's).

Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (or use Listerine). H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial exposure to the throat/nasal cavity to proliferate and produce its characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. Not everybody may be good at using a Neti pot, but blowing your nose hard at least once a day (do NOT sniffle, as that just draws pathogens deep into your sinuses) and swabbing both nostrils with cotton swabs dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down a viral population.

Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C. If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure they also contain Zinc to boost absorption.

Drink as much warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

2009: Childbirth in the US Compared

Born In the USA

National health spending is expected to reach $2.5 trillion in 2009, accounting for 17.6 percent of the gross domestic product.
More is spent on health care in the United States on a per capita basis than in any other nation in the world.
Childbirth is the leading reason for hospitalization in the US
Childbirth in the US is over medicalized. The current style of maternity care is procedure-intensive, and six of the fifteen most commonly performed hospital procedures in the entire population are associated with childbirth.
Cesarean section is the most common operating room procedure in the country. US C-section rate in 1970 was 5.5%. The US C-section rate in 2007 was 31.8%. According to the World Health Organization recommendations about optimal cesarean section rates the best outcomes for mothers and babies occur with cesarean section rates of 5% to 10%. Rates above 15% do more harm than good.
Maternal and newborn hospital charges ($86 billion in 2006) far exceed those of any other condition. Private insurers pay for 49% of births; Medicaid covers 43%.
The United States newborn mortality rate ranks 29th the second worst rate in the developed world
The United States ranks behind at least 40 other nations in maternal mortality rates; the highest in over 20 years.
Eighty percent of pregnant women are considered low risk.

Knowledge and Learning Series Videos

AABC has added a new Video page dedicated to Knowledge and Learning. You can find it in the right-side menu under More About Us -> Videos - Knowledge. The Knowledge and Learning page begins with a new video named "Reducing Infant Mortality" that pulls together noted birth experts that reflect on current trends and analyzes why the United States is ranked higher then most developed countries.

While this video ranks the US at 48th, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in a NCHS Data Brief dated October 2008 ranks the US at 29th and notes;

"The U.S. infant mortality rate is higher than rates in most other developed countries. The relative position of the United States in comparison to countries with the lowest infant mortality rates, appears to be worsening. In 2004, the United States ranked 29th in the world in infant mortality, tied with Poland and Slovakia. Previously, the United States international ranking in infant mortality was 12th in 1960 and 23d in 1990."

You you can view the video on this page.