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Where to have your baby in the Lower Mainland

Deciding on where you would like to give birth is a big decision. Sometimes you don't know what you want until later in your pregnancy. It is good to set yourself up, so you have many options. In the Lower Mainland, women and their partners can choose to have their baby in a hospital or at home. If you live in Lower Mainland, your postal code might restrict you or you might go to a different hospital if your care provider has privileges at that hospital. Check out our article about choosing your medical care provider.

Here is a list of the options you have to birth your baby in the Lower Mainland and some key points to think about.

Vancouver

BC Woman's Hospital

Here is the virtual tour for BC Woman's

Only work with maternity patients - not general medicine
Teaching hospital
Often you have to move to a smaller postpartum room after your birth
1:1 nurse care. Your nurse will stay with you for your entire birth
For a cesarean birth, you stay with your baby after the birth

St. Paul's Hospital

The virtual tour for St. Paul's

General Medicine hospital - you enter through Emergency
Teaching Hospital
You stay in the room you give birth in after you have had your baby
No Water Birth
1:1 nurse care. Your nurse will stay with you for your entire birth

Burnaby

Burnaby Hospital

Burnaby Hosptial Virtual Tour

General Hospital - It is a smaller hospital with a smaller maternity unit
Birthing tubs in half the rooms
Shared postpartum rooms
No donor milk on site

Home Birth

In the Lower Mainland, if you have a midwife you can birth at home if your pregnancy is low risk. Here is a 2012 article where the health minister encourages home birth in low-risk cases. This is a fantastic article outlining 9 reasons you might choose home birth. Dancing Star birth has a great article outlining what supplies would be good to have on hand for your home birth.