Ottawa’s Birth Centre
The Ottawa Birth and Wellness Centre offers a warm, individualized approach to childbirth in a community-based setting. The birthing suites at the Ottawa Birth and Wellness Centre are designed to provide you with everything you need for an empowering and safe labour and birth.
Reopening Soon
The Ottawa Birth and Wellness Centre continues to be temporarily closed, but we expect to reopen soon.
Please continue to communicate with your midwife about your choice of birthplace options, and they will be able to advise you of a confirmed reopening date.
In the meantime, we are pleased to be able to welcome you for tours of our facility if you are considering a birth at the Birth Centre. Tours are offered by registration only and you can sign up here.
Thank you for your patience.
Our Facilities
Our birthing suites are spacious and customizable, allowing you to use the space in the way that fits you best during your labour and birth.
We offer you private, well-equipped birthing suites with soft lighting, cozy fireplaces, queen-sized beds, comfortable linens, Bluetooth speakers, large bathtubs for labour and birth, suspended slings for changing position in labour, a full bathroom and shower, birthing balls, birth stools, and all of the equipment your midwife needs to ensure a safe labour and delivery—and a tasty, nutritious meal after your baby has arrived.
Your choice to labour and birth in the water is respected and supported at the Ottawa Birth and Wellness Centre. The tubs are very spacious, facilitating your mobility, and allowing your birth partner room to be in the tub as well, if you wish. Each birthing suite features a deep tub, which you can use for water immersion during labour and/or birth if you choose.
If you are interested in giving birth at the Birth Centre, simply inform your midwife of your interest. Your midwife will submit all of the required paperwork on your behalf. We highly recommend that anyone considering the Birth Centre for their birth should come for a tour during their pregnancy. This allows you to become familiar with our location and the labour space ahead of your big day. Registering at the Birth Centre does not mean that you must come here when you go into labour; rather, it ensures that we have all of the information on file should you decide to choose the Birth Centre as your preferred birth location.
Accessibility
The Ottawa Birth and Wellness Centre is committed to accessibility in serving all clients and their families. Designated free parking is available, service animals are welcome, and all areas of the Centre are wheelchair-accessible. Please contact us if you have specific questions.
Our parking facilities are fully accessible and free of cost.
Service animals are welcome. If you are a client planning a birth centre labour and delivery, please inform your midwife ahead of arrival. There is outdoor space for toileting and rest needs for your service animal in close proximity to the clinical assessment areas.
The Centre is accessible for those who use a wheelchair or other mobility aides. Additionally, the facility offers barrier-free pathways and wide doorways. The OBWC encourages all clients to discuss their unique accessibility needs with their midwives.
Who regulates the Birth Centre?
The Ottawa Birth and Wellness Centre is a Midwife-Led Birth Centre, is a not-for-profit corporation with a governing Board of Directors and is separate from other health, hospital, or medical services.
The OBWC is accountable to the Integrated Community Health Services Centres branch of the Ontario Ministry of Health, and delivers services that are consistent with the Midwifery Act (1991) and the Integrated Community Health Services Centres Act (2023).
The College of Midwives of Ontario conducts assessments and performs comprehensive reviews of all licensed midwife led birth centres every 5 years.
FAQ
Clients in midwifery care in Ontario will have their care covered through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). Clients in midwifery care who reside in Ontario but do not have OHIP do not pay for services accessed at the Ottawa Birth and Wellness Centre. Clients are encouraged to speak to their midwives about healthcare coverage.
Note that we are temporarily closed during renovation.
The Birth Centre is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We are staffed around the clock by a team of non-clinical Birth Centre Aides who provide support to midwives and clients. Clients should always contact their midwife before coming to the Centre.
The office hours for all other inquiries are Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
It is best to contact a midwifery practice group as early as possible once you have a confirmed pregnancy. Follow the links listed below for the four midwifery practice groups in our area:
Anyone with a home address in Ontario, in the care of an appointed midwife, and who is experiencing a normal, low-risk pregnancy, and who meets the Centre’s eligibility criteria. Clients should speak with their midwife to review if the Birth Centre as an option for your choice of birthplace.
The Ottawa Birth and Wellness Centre was designed to maximize client comfort and for clients in labour to move freely and have control in the birth space. In addition, clients using the Birth Centre can access nitrous oxide (‘laughing gas’), sterile water injections, TENS machines, and other comfort measures in labour such as suspended slings, birthing balls, peanut balls, and birth stools.
At this time, masking for the public is optional. Masks are available throughout the Centre. Midwives providing care to clients admitted to the Birth Centre will follow local guidelines for masking and other PPE. People who have an active infection are asked to refrain from visiting the Centre.
Currently, there is no limit on the number of support people permitted. We also have a Family Lounge where people can wait comfortably, if you prefer them not to be in the birth room during your labour. The Family Lounge features comfortable seating, a kitchenette, and a children’s play area, as well as access to our outdoor patio. All children must be supervised at all times. Birth Centre staff do not provide child minding services
Regardless of immigration status, all birth centre clients must be under the care of an appointed registered midwife in Ontario and be a current resident of Ontario. If you are a newcomer to Canada and need assistance finding a midwife, please see FAQ section above: 'How do you find a midwife?'.