Newcastle birthing centre

Newcastle birthing centre is the largest in the north east and is located on the same site as our consultant-led delivery suite in the Leazes Wing, Royal Victoria Infirmary.

The centre is directly on the left as you come through the main entrance of Leazes Wing.

Facilities

10 birthing rooms, 5 of which are birthing pool rooms
An assessment room
Hot meals, provided day or night
An en-suite in each birthing room (some have baths with showers overhead, others have showers only)
TV with Freeview in each birthing room
Birthing balls, floor mats, birthing couches and birthing stools
Dimmer switches and air conditioning in each birthing room

Your journey will usually start in the assessment room. We can see you to assess for labour or if you think your waters have broken at 37 weeks or more. If we discover anything of concern during your assessment, we may transfer you to the maternity assessment unit for further investigation.

Once it is time to stay within the hospital, your midwife will ask you if you’d like to use the pool for labour and/or birth.

If you need to transfer from the birthing centre to the delivery suite for any reason the process only takes a few minutes. We transfer you to the delivery suite using the nearest accessible lifts.

In an emergency we are able to access the most appropriate medical help for you and your baby.

Criteria for the Newcastle birthing centre

For us to recommend the birthing centre as a safe place for you to deliver your baby, we have several basic criteria:

Be pregnant with 1 baby
Baby in the head down position at the start of labour
You are having a low risk pregnancy or there is a documented plan in your notes that says you can give birth at the birthing centre
Be ‘term’ at the start of your labour – between 37+0 and 42+0 weeks
If it is your first baby, to have a BMI below 35 at 28 weeks of pregnancy
If it is your second baby or more, to have a BMI below 40 at 28 weeks of pregnancy

Please note that if your BMI is over 35, you will be unable to use a pool in the birthing centre for safety reasons.

A community midwife will reweigh you at 28 weeks if your booking BMI is 30 or more. If you think you should be reweighed or just want to check, please ask your community midwife.

If a midwife at the birthing centre thinks there has been a lot of weight gain in your pregnancy, they may ask to weigh you during an assessment. Please do not be offended if the midwife asks to do this. This is to make a safety assessment for the birthing centre and pool and ensure we are recommending the safest possible birth environment for you and your baby.

Visiting

We offer open visiting at the birthing centre, with flexible hours and numbers.

Students

As a teaching hospital we will often have students from various specialities come to the birthing centre to gain experience during their studies. They could be:

Midwives
Doctors
Paramedics
Nurses
Occupational therapists

The students can be at various stages of their training and may be male or female. They always appreciate your permission to watch or participate in any part of your care. This experience is vital to their training. It is your decision as to whether you will allow any student to participate or watch any or all of your care or whether you would like to decline students altogether.