Q: How accurate is my due date?
A: Your due date is an estimation of time calculated from your last menstrual period. Since this is just an estimation, your due date may be two weeks before or two weeks after the date given.

Q: Why do I weigh myself and test my own urine?
A: We at Bethany Women's Healthcare & Birth Center like for you to be involved as much as possible in your own care. By weighing yourself, taking your own blood pressure, and testing your urine, you become aware of some of the changes that your body undergoes during pregnancy. You learn about what is normal for you. You become an active participant in your prenatal care.

Q: Is sex okay during pregnancy?
A: Generally intercourse during pregnancy is safe up until delivery, as long as the woman is comfortable. The couple may need to try various positions for the woman's comfort.
There are times during pregnancy when your provider (obstetrician) will recommend pelvic rest (no intercourse). If the woman is experiencing cramping, or vaginal bleeding, intercourse should be avoided until your provider feels it is once again safe.

Intimacy is a basic need and no one should feel embarrassed to discuss this issue with her provider.

Q: How much weight should I gain during my pregnancy?
A: There is no universal answer to this question. Weight gain will depend on a woman's weight at the beginning of her pregnancy. Underweight women will need to gain more weight than those women who are overweight. A general rule to follow is 10 pounds the first 20 weeks, then 1 pound per week until delivery. Overweight women should gain less, and underweight women should gain more. Weight gain is distributed in the following places:

-Baby
-Placenta
-Amniotic fluid
-Increased uterus size
-Increased maternal stores
-Increased maternal blood volume.

A healthy, balanced diet is stressed as much as actual weight gain. It is also very important for mom (and therefore baby) to eliminate cigarettes and alcohol during pregnancy.

Q: What is the NACC?
A: The National Association of Childbearing Centers (NACC). It was founded in 1983 "...to promote excellence and cost efficiency in the operation of freestanding birth centers and to make birth center services available in every community."

Accreditation by NACC is a voluntary process that evaluates the services the birth center offers. It is an educational process that helps birth centers establish internal standards, evaluates performance, and receive recognition for outstanding achievement. Accreditation tells the community that our Birth Center has worked hard to meet designated standards of excellence. It is a symbol of quality that hospitals and insurers look for when agreeing to reimburse for care.

Accreditation may take a birth center six months or more to receive, and includes a self-evaluation report, visit by trained surveyors, and review by a panel of commissioners. Updated reports are required from a center following accreditation.

Birth centers are accredited every three years. Bethany Birth Center has been accredited by NACC since it opened in October 1993, and was most recently accredited in 2002.