First Infant Born in Cooley Dickinson Hospital Birthing Tub Becky Jacobsen of West Springfield became the first expectant mother to deliver her infant in Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s Childbirth Center’s new birthing tub on Feb 7, 2010.

Becky and Gage JacobsenJacobsen, attended by her husband, Jonathan, gave birth to their son Gage Jacobsen. The Jacobsens said they chose to have their baby at Cooley Dickinson because they had heard good feedback from other parents at the hospital’s Center for Midwifery Care and because they were also excited about the hospital’s new birthing tub.

The birthing tub helps to soothe a woman in active labor, according to Midwife Annie Heath, who assisted at the birth along with Dr. Tucker Kueny, medical director of the Center for Midwifery Care.

When an expectant mother in active labor enters the water, she experiences weightlessness with the hydrostatic pressure supporting her body. The mother can move about freely in the water and can assume any position that she finds comfortable. The heat of the water helps relax the muscles and allows the laboring mother to feel more relaxed and comfortable during her labor.

Becky Jacobsen was not able to choose a natural birth experience with her first child, who is now 2½, so it was important to her to try the birthing tub. She said she felt the tub would provide her with an easy labor experience and would be less traumatic to her infant. “Gage was very calm when he was born,” she said.

Jacobsen highly recommends the Center for Midwifery Care, with its homey atmosphere, and she was very pleased with the hospital’s Childbirth Center and its birthing tub.

For more information on the Center for Midwifery Care, please call (413) 584-5983. For more information on the Childbirth Center, please call (413) 582-2125.