Places to Give Birth: Burr Ridge Birth Center

Fun Fact: The birth center building used to be a bank in a past life

A series in which I share my own experience of birth places around the Chicagoland area plus the data that we have available. There is no one right place to give birth, and the right place for you is the place where you feel safest. In this article I'm going to share about my experiences with the midwives at Burr Ridge Birth Center.

Full disclosure: I am an affiliated educator at BRBC, so I clearly think this is a lovely place to give birth.

Part 1: Birth Center of Chicago - currently closed

Part 2: Illinois Masonic

Part 3: Northwestern Prentice

Part 4: Evanston Hospital

Part 5: OMG Midwives at Hinsdale

Burr Ridge Birth Center Experience

Burr Ridge Birth Center (BRBC) is located in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago right off of Route 55. It is a freestanding building with an ample parking lot, a full kitchen, a clinic, a classroom, and 3 beautiful birthing suites. The staff is warm and welcoming and will immediately invite you to help yourself to coffee, tea, or infused water.

Waiting area of BRBC includes a full kitchen

Birth Centers are meant to marry a home-like, comfortable setting with medical equipment plus expertise to handle most complications. If you want a home birth, but you or your partner are unsure about being outside of a medical setting, a birth center might be the right fit for you. That said, there is a common misconception that birth centers are "safer" than home births. Birth center and home birth midwives carry all of the same medication and equipment, so the biggest difference is the physical location. Regardless of whether you are hoping for a home birth or a birth center birth, you will need to be evaluated and deemed low-risk throughout your pregnancy.

BRBC is the sibling birth center to Birth Center of Chicago, which means that in light of the recent closure of BCC I have had many clients pivot to this location. I think that it is helpful to know about the BRBC-BCC link because then you know that the policies and philosophy are going to be very similar. In fact, both birth centers are fairly new but BRBC outpaces BCC for births and just celebrated their 500th catch!

Midwives at BRBC

You will receive all your prenatal care from the BRBC midwifery team. Grace is a friend and member of the LGBTQ+ community. She is excellent at counseling clients and a real gem in the birth space. Mary has worked in a variety of settings and brings lots of wisdom into the room. Kathleen used to work at BCC before she moved out to the suburbs, so you can really see how the teams work together!

Midwife Grace with a client

Sometimes in a hospital setting declining something that is "protocol" can be a lot of conversation and work. With BRBC, they only use IVs when medically necessary, you can birth in any position you want, and they do intermittent auscultation rather than continuous fetal monitoring. You can eat and drink freely and only have cervical exams that you want. Want to wait until your baby's umbilical cord is white before cutting it? Literally, no problem. Waterbirth? You got it! You also get 3 postpartum visits in the first 2 weeks, whereas medical standard is 1 visit at the end of 6 weeks. Their care honors the parent-baby dyad and is generally more holistic.

Key Statistics and Information

You can read the full report on the BRBC blog here.

• Midwifery-led care for all patients

• 171 babies born in 2024

• Cesarean Rate: 6.6%

  • The national rate is 25.6% and the IL rate is 32.4%; 6% is incredible!

  • BRBC does not have an OR, so these are clients that transferred to the hospital either prenatally or in labor

• Epidural rate: not available (see transfer rate)

• Induction rate: not available

• Transfer rate during labor

  • 24 people who were eligible to give birth at the birth center transferred out of their care during labor

  • 1 of these transfers was urgent

• 48% of clients chose to have doula support

• Waterbirth: 52%, tubs in each birth suite

• Not able to support VBAC (trial of labor after Cesarean) clients

• No NICU (transfers are made to Hinsdale, Perinatal Level III)

  • 1 urgent newborn transfer

  • 8 non-urgent newborn transfers

• Visitors: 3 people plus a doula (4 total)

  • Siblings are allowed with their own support person

  • Photographers are allowed

• No data on breast/chest feeding, but BRBC is very supportive of nursing

• Eating and drinking is unrestricted during labor

Services and Amenities

Giant tub? Check. Big bed to snuggle as a new family? Duh. Plus peanut balls, Swedish ladders, and birth stools galore. You name it, they got it. Birth is never easy, but it can be a little easier when you are in a homey and comfortable environment. Truly, I cannot think of one single thing that I wish the birth center had and they don't.

Next Steps

If you are interested in giving birth here, or honestly just curious, the best think you can do is go take a tour! You will get so much more information and be able to vibe check. People are always concerned about insurance. BRBC takes Blue Cross PPO, United PPO, Humana, and also offers payment plans. When you take a tour you can ask them to verify your benefits so that you have a better sense of your out of pocket costs.

I'm trying not to go on a rant about insurance (free Luigi!) but I also do wish that some clients really thought through all the costs - not just monetary. Like you might find a place where you pay less money but you might also pay in other things like not being listened to or not getting the care you want and deserve. Anyway, I get it, we live in an healthcare hellscape. They have payment plans.

Ask me anything! I love attending births here and would be happy to chat more.