Birthing Centers
Portland, Oregon

Choosing a Portland Birthing Center

Birth centers focus on empowering you to make informed decisions about your own childbirth experience, but each individual Portland birthing center can differ quite a bit in terms of amenities and available medical interventions.

This guide explores six local labor and delivery center options with room descriptions and photos of the inside of each facility. We hope it will help you in the process of choosing a birthing center in Portland, Oregon.

List: 8 Birth Centers in Portland, Oregon

1. Alma Midwifery

2. Andaluz Waterbirth

3. Canyon Medical

4. Legacy

5. St. Vincent

6. Providence

7. OHSU

8. Adventist Health

These Portland birth centers are not ranked. They are only numbered for clarity. The first three birth centers are ‘Freestanding birth centers’ while the other locations are actually better described as ‘Hospital-based birthing suites’ that use the term ‘birthing center’ in their marketing materials.

1) Alma Midwifery Birthing Center in SE Portland, OR

Freestanding birth center

If you want the warm, non-clinical feeling of a home birth with the added support of a birthing center, we recommend you check out the Alma Midwifery birthing center.

Each individual room at Alma Midwifery is unique and designed to help you feel comfortable and relaxed throughout your labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery. Your labor and delivery will be led by trained midwives, and the center is located close to hospitals.

The Alma birthing center allows you to choose your room (and a second option, just in case). They also offer “practice sessions,” during which you, your support person, and a member of staff will do a complete run-through of your birth ahead of time to help you prepare. 

Alma Midwifery
1608 SE Ankeny St.
Portland, OR 97214

Phone: 503-233-3001

2) Andaluz Waterbirth Birthing Center in SW Portland

Freestanding birth center

Andaluz Waterbirth Center is a great option if you’re looking for a birthing center that has lots of amenities and a focus on comfort. They accept most insurance providers and your care will be led by licensed midwives.

Their childbirth center’s birthing suites are all unique, and each includes a queen sized bed, a shower and a deep tub, essential-oil diffusers, birthing balls, and other support items. You’ll also have access to a living area, a lending library, and a kitchen while you’re there.

Andaluz has lots of photos on their website so you can get a sense of what to expect. They also offer in-person tours so you can decide if it’s the right fit for you.

Andaluz Waterbirth Center
3323 SW Naito Pkwy
Portland, OR 97239

Phone: 503-885-0228

3) Canyon Medical Birthing Center in SW Portland

Freestanding birth center

Canyon Medical Center provides naturopathic care for you and your baby in a warm and private setting.

Their birth suites are designed to provide a comfortable experience throughout labor and delivery and during your postpartum recovery. They include comfortable beds, tubs for comfort and pain management, and kitchenettes for you and your support person.

Your care will be led by trained naturopathic physicians and midwives, and the center offers birthing classes to help you feel prepared for the journey of labor, childbirth, postpartum recovery, and newborn care.

Canyon Medical Center
2100 SW Camelot Ct.
Portland, OR 97225

Phone: 503-252-8125

4) Legacy Birth Center in N Portland

Hospital-based birthing suites

Legacy Health is one of the largest providers of medical care in Portland and throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Each of their medical centers has a family birth center that aims to provide a comfortable atmosphere for birthing patients and their families while ensuring quick access to specialized medical care.

The Family Birth Center at Randall Children’s Hospital (located in the Legacy Emanuel Medical Center) boasts the title of Oregon’s most complete, state-of-the-art birthing center. Their new birthing center provides a private, patient-centered environment and offer a variety of labor and delivery options, which include water birth and nitrous oxide for pain management.

Legacy Family Birth Center at Randall Children's Hospital
2801 N Gantenbein Ave,
Portland, OR 97227

Phone: 503-413-2200

5) St. Vincent Labor and Delivery Center in SW Portland

Hospital-based birthing suites

‘St. Vincent Labor and Delivery’ is a hospital-based birthing center located in the West Haven-Sylvan area, just north of Beaverton and west of Portland.

The center is operated by Providence and provides comprehensive care from a comfortable and warm environment with easy access to medical intervention and emergency services.

Like Providence’s Glisan location, the birthing center at St. Vincent includes care supported by registered nurses, private rooms, comprehensive postpartum support and education, and a variety of pain-management options to choose from, including epidurals, jacuzzi tubs, birthing balls, and squat bars.

Providence St. Vincent Family Maternity Center
9205 SW Barnes Rd,
Portland, OR 97225

Phone: 503-216-1234

6) Providence Birthing Center in NE Portland

Hospital-based birthing suites

The Providence birthing center is centrally located just northeast of Laurelhurst Park on Glisan Street.

Their childbirth facility is one of the largest maternity centers in the Portland area and provides comprehensive care in a comfortable environment.

Every room at the Providence birth center center includes a private bathroom, a bed for you and your baby, a space for your support person, and a phone and television. Your delivery will be supported by registered nurses who offer a variety of pain-management options, including epidurals, birthing balls, jacuzzi tubs, and squat bars. 

One of the nice things about the Providence maternity center is that you’ll have easy access to specialized care and emergency care if it becomes necessary during your labor and delivery.

Providence Family Maternity Center
4805 NE Glisan St,
Portland, OR 97213

Phone: 503-215-6150

7) OHSU’s Family Birthing Center in SW Portland

Hospital-based birthing suites

The Center for Women's Health at OHSU is located right in the heart of the OHSU hospital facility in the hills just south of downtown Portland.

OHSU’s Family Birthing Center offers labor and delivery suites and recovery suites that are designed to make childbirth feel both safe and comfortable.

Their childbirth facilities include spacious birthing suites with jetted tubs, peaceful recovery rooms for the whole family to bond with the new addition, and convenient operating rooms and a neonatal intensive care unit just steps away in case they are needed.

OHSU has some of the highest success rates for vaginal births after C-sections (VBACs) in the entire country. They also try to limit mother-newborn separation after birth, provide post-delivery breastfeeding support, and offer alternatives to traditional pain management include hypnobirthing techniques and nitrous oxide.

OHSU’s Family Birthing Center
3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Rd.
Portland, OR 97239

Phone: 503-418-4500

8) Adventist Health Portland’s ‘Family Birth Place’ in SE Portland

Hospital-based birthing suites

Adventist Health Portland’s ‘Family Birth Place’ is the most recent addition to our list of Portland birthing center options.

Unlike other Hospital-based birthing suites, Adventist actually does provide a distinct space where you're strictly under the care of midwives and the setup and vibe is much more like that of a freestanding birth center. If you transfer to a higher level of care, you're moved to a different part of the hospital. 

Adventist Health Portland
10123 Southeast Market Street
Portland, OR 97216

Phone: 503-257-2500

How do ‘freestanding birth centers’ differ from ‘hospital-based birthing suites’?

Freestanding birth centers:

• Only available for low-risk, "normal" pregnancies/births and spontaneous labor (not induced) prior to week 41+5 of pregnancy

• You might be under the care of certified professional midwives (trained homebirth midwives) or certified nurse midwives (but not OBs)

• If you need a higher level of care, you would need to transfer to hospital-based care.

• Birth centers do not offer medical pain management options like epidurals or opioids.

• You would not receive labor augmentation with the use of pitocin at a birth center.

• Birth centers ascribe to the midwifery model of care, offering the least amount of intervention possible to provide the greatest benefit.

• Birth centers support families to have well-supported, physiologic births, and provide tubs for water birth.

• Freestanding birth centers offer homey, private rooms with large beds and a fully equipped bathroom (including showers) and all the tools you might use during your birth, like a peanut ball, squat bar, birthing stool, etc.

• Your stay at a birth center will be shorter than in a hospital setting. Most birth centers send parents and babies home at about six hours after birth.

Hospital birthing centers:

• Aim to provide a cozy atmosphere in their birth rooms (or as they sometimes call them, "birthing suites").

• Your birth might be attended by a nurse midwife or an obstetrician in this setting, and you'll have access to all levels of pain management options, as well as cesarean birth, if needed.

• Medical inductions and augmented labor with pitocin are also options in this setting.

• For the hospital birthing centers, you give birth in their "Birth Center," which is essentially a private wing of the hospital (the "Labor & Delivery" floor). The "birth space" is a part of the hospital, not separate from it.

What is a birthing center?

A birthing center is a specialized childbirth facility that offers a less restrictive and more homelike environment as an alternative to hospital birth. Some birth centers are independent healthcare facilities while others are associated with hospitals, but most are designed to feel more like a room in your home than a hospital room.

Why should I choose a Portland birth center for my childbirth experience?

At a Portland birth center, you can generally expect a midwife to lead your care – from prenatal appointments, through labor and delivery, and postpartum. While traditional hospital births may incorporate the practice of midwifery and doula support, this type of care is front and center at birthing centers.

Are you looking for help choosing the right birthing center in Portland, OR?

At Wildwood Birth Collective, we can help you in the process of choosing a birthing center in Portland, OR based on your unique circumstances and preferences. Our team of professional birth doulas are educated and trained holistically in the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn care. We would love to support your family as your labor and delivery doula and/or postpartum doula in Portland.