Newcastle Birthing Centre

Newcastle Birthing Centre (NBC) is the largest birthing centre in the North East. It is an alongside birthing centre which means it sits on the same site as the consultant led delivery suite. In fact, it is just one floor away.

Newcastle Birthing Centre is on Level 3 of the Leazes Wing. It is directly on your left hand side as you come through the main doors.

Facilities

12 birthing rooms, 5 of which are pool rooms
An assessment room
Hot meals which can be provided at any time of day or night
An en-suite bathroom in each birthing room (some have baths with showers overhead, others have showers only)
Free 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
A pull out double sofa bed for postnatal stays

Your journey will usually start in the assessment room. We can see you to assess you for labour or if 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 Newcastle 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 Newcastle 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 Newcastle 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 on the Birthing Centre suspects 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 reweigh you. This is to make a safety assessment for the Birthing Centre and the pool and ensure we are recommending the safest possible birth environment for you and your baby.

Visiting

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made a number of changes to the way people access our services. You can find out more here.

These guidelines are reviewed regularly to make sure we can continue to provide you with the safest and most effective care.

We appreciate that a pregnancy is often a family event. Our team are doing everything they can to support your family to be a part of the journey with you, whilst keeping those using our services and our staff safe. We understand that this is a challenging time for all and we want to let you know we are still here for you and we want you to talk to us. Accessing care is now more important than ever. If you have any concerns or queries, please contact the maternity assessment unit, your community midwife or GP.

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.