Family Birthing Center

You will be making many important choices for you and your child’s health and where to deliver your baby is one of the most important. ECHN’s Family Birthing Center offers new parents personal, family-centered care in a welcoming, comforting, safe and home-like environment.

Midwife Services

Our certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) are skilled health care professionals and registered nurses (RNs) who successfully completed an accredited graduate education program and passed a national certification exam. They perform routine gynecologic exams for women of all ages as well as provide all aspects of prenatal care. Many of our midwives provide full obstetric care including labor, delivery and post-partum services in the hospital setting.

Doula Services

A birth doula supports women before, during and just after childbirth by providing physical and emotional support and information. The use of a doula for labor and early parenting has been shown to decrease certain interventions, shorten labor and reduce cesareans.

The ECHN Preferred Doula Program provides services to women who want, or need additional support during their pregnancy, birth and postpartum period. Our professional staff of doulas hold and maintain current certifications with various organizations such as DONA, ICEA, CAPPA and ALACE (toLabor). All ECHN Preferred Doulas are insured and up-to-date with hospital protocols for safety, policies and procedures.

Contact the Coordinator, ecrayton@echn.org or 860-647-4790 for fees and additional information. Interested participants will be interviewed with the program coordinator and carefully matched with one of our experienced doulas.

Please note that ECHN’s doula policy requires all birth doulas practicing at the Family Birthing Center to be certified, insured and listed on our approved internal registry. If you are looking to hire a doula outside our Preferred Doula Program, please be certain that your independent doula is certified, insured and listed on our registry.

To learn more about ECHN’s Doula Program, call our program coordinator at 860.647.4790.

Lactation Consultation Services

Breastfeeding education is the key to success, and we are committed to providing educational and supportive breastfeeding services through a variety of services, including:

Prenatal Breastfeeding Classes 
These classes teach breastfeeding basics and what to expect in the first few weeks after giving birth.

Ongoing Breastfeeding Education
During your hospital stay, ongoing breastfeeding education and support is provided by our trained nursing staff and Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC).

Following your birth, we aim to keep healthy babies with their parent’s skin to skin for at least the first hour or until the baby has attempted to breastfeed.

When you are discharged from the hospital, ongoing lactation consultation services, by phone or by office visit to discuss feeding questions and concerns are available for an additional fee.

Post Discharge Support Services
Outside of the hospital support services are also available for when you and your baby go home. Our Breastfeeding Peer Mentor Program is a group of mothers who have had experience breastfeeding and now volunteer to work alongside the lactations consultants to provide basic breastfeeding information and support to help new mothers reach their breastfeeding goals.

To learn more about ECHN's Lactation Consultation, Education and Support Services, call our program coordinator at 860.647.4790.