Natural Beginning, a natural birth center that operates in conjunction with medical practice OBGYN North, opened Sept. 2 adjacent to St. David's North Austin Medical Center, offering patients options for non-induced labor and drug-free birth.

Siobhan Kubesh, a certified nurse midwife with OBGYN North and Natural Beginning, said women who choose natural birth have more choices at the center.

"There's more demand for options besides a hospital," she said.

Dr. Christina Sebestyen, who owns OBGYN North, said she has waited five years for her idea to come to fruition.

"It's just really exciting to watch this dream unfold and allow women to give birth in a way they choose," she said.

The facility has three birth suites, each with a full- or queen-sized bed, walk-in shower and SaniJet birthing tub that Sebestyen said women can use for a water birth or hydrotherapy to soothe the intensity of contractions. Sebestyen said she had envisioned a spa- or hotel-like setting for Natural Beginning because the environment plays a big role during labor.

Pursuing a natural birth reduces the likelihood of a woman needing a cesarean section and reduces adverse effects for both the mother and baby, Sebestyen said. Women who choose a non-induced labor and drug-free birth have a 5 percent chance of needing a C-section versus a 33 percent chance for women who choose to be induced and have an epidural, she said.

To keep women relaxed during labor, Natural Beginning offers nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas.

"When in labor, women can doubt their own strength, and with nitrous oxide they can achieve relaxation and gain confidence to get through labor," Sebestyen said.

Physicians from OBGYN North as well as the practice's certified nurse midwives—advanced practice nurses with a master's degree in nursing and a specialty in midwifery—staff the birthing center, Kubesh said. CNMs go through seven years of training to be qualified to deliver babies and are able to do everything a physician does except for C-sections and other birth-related surgeries, she said.

CNMs also have hospital privileges at St. David's NAMC so they can travel with a patient who might need to be transferred to the hospital during labor, Kubesh said. CNMs collaborate with OBGYN North's physicians if a woman's pregnancy is no longer low-risk.

"We can co-manage high-risk women in our practice; that's completely unique to this practice," she said.