Parents, midwives mourn closure of family birth unit at Montreal's Notre-Dame Hospital

It cost $25 million to build, but barely a year after its opening and less than six months in operation, the family birth unit at Montreal's Notre-Dame Hospital is closed for good.

The CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, which oversees the hospital, announced the closure a week ago, blaming a lack of specialized obstetrics staff.

The loss is a "missed opportunity" and a blow for patients who would prefer to give birth outside of a traditional hospital setting, said Barbara Beccafico, a birth doula and board member with the Quebec Association of Doulas (AQD).

"The community was very saddened," said Beccafico. "We felt like it was a beautiful project that was stillborn."

The family birth unit emphasized physiological — or natural — medication-free births and collaborated with midwives, who shared their expertise and knowledge with the unit's nurses.

The unit was supposed to accommodate 1,500 births a year or 125 a month. In the end, only 46 children were born there.

In an email, Amaili Jetté, the president of the Regroupement les sages-femmes du Québec (RSFQ), a collective representing midwife groups, said it's important these kinds of collaborations continue in the future, while respecting each other's areas of competence and expertise.

"Physiological births are in demand, and it is vital that we continue to offer care and facilities that meet the needs of the population," said Jetté, adding that the island of Montreal currently has five birthing centres and one midwifery service.

Shannon Godin had planned on delivering her son, Tomas, at Notre-Dame Hospital, which is close to her home.

The Notre-Dame unit was designed as a bridge between the experience of home births and that of hospital deliveries.

Unlike a traditional hospital setting, the family birth unit had large, private rooms equipped with bath tubs. Birthing balls, stools and other supports such as slings and ceiling bars were also available to help patients during delivery.

The patient would remain in the same room to recover rather than changing units, which Godin also liked.

But when the family birth unit was temporarily closed last summer, Godin began to search for another option.

A nurse herself, she said she isn't surprised the unit struggled to maintain staffing due to the nursing shortage throughout the health- care system. Even so, she admits it was "frustrating and disappointing" to have to start over and find a new place to give birth.