Popular With Good Reason!

Waterbirth is becoming increasingly popular throughout the US, and with good reason! Warm water is soothing and comforting, and quite effective as a pain management tool in natural birth.

Listen to the story of the second and last waterbirth ever in Providence Hospital, as told by Barbara Norton at "Nursing Narratives,” 2019.




Is It Safe?
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding waterbirth in the last few years, with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issuing a 2014 Opinion Statement denouncing the practice as ‘experimental’ and suggesting it should only be offered in the context of clinical trials. The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), American Association of Birth Centers (AABC), and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) all disagree with this position, and have endorsed it as a safe, evidence-based option.

Read more about the evidence on the safety of waterbirth.


Our Birthing Rooms
At Geneva Woods Birth Center we have three private birthing rooms, all of which have showers, and two of which have tubs. We encourage all women to experience the soothing effects of warm water in labor, whether in the shower or the tub or both. Women who wish to give birth in the tub or shower are welcome to, and our patients have safely birthed many hundreds of babies in our tubs since 2002.

View photos of our birthing rooms!


Laboring vs. Birthing Tubs
While all three major hospitals in Anchorage have at least one tub if not more, they are strictly for laboring only, and women are prohibited from giving birth in them. Therefore a birthing center or home birth are the only places in which a woman can have a waterbirth in Anchorage.