Couple Gives Birth In Hotel Room – On Purpose

A couple who found themselves moving around the same time they were expecting the birth of their child opted for a different setting than a new home filled with boxes. They decided to give birth in a hotel instead.

Kristen and Pippen Kingsbury chose the luxury hotel, The Nines, in Portland, Oregon. Kristen labored for two hours in the corner suite they chose. It cost them $299. She told KOIN News, “We walked in and I am telling you, I was like, ‘I am having this baby here.’ It was gorgeous.”

The birth happened two years ago, but the hotel just recently caught wind of it, thanks to a commemorative video the couple made and posted to YouTube called, Our Luxury Hotel Birth. The hotel is not pleased: “A representative from The Nines said they had no ideas anyone was delivering in one of their rooms. Had they known, the representative said they would not have allowed it.”

This story didn’t surprise me too much. I saw a midwife during my last pregnancy who only performed home births. When I told her I was staying with my family at the time who were not very supportive of the idea of a home birth, she suggested I rent a hotel room. I chuckled, thinking surely she was joking. She wasn’t.

I remember her mentioning that it was great because of the privacy and the fact that I wouldn’t have to worry about cleaning up. What? Was I supposed to leave a bloody birth-scene for a maid who would probably think someone was horrifically murdered? The midwife explained we could use things similar to doggy pee-pads and there wouldn’t be a big mess. We could also inflate a pool in the room and have a water birth.

Um, no.

While I whole-heartedly support home-births, this is definitely one of the areas in which I disagree with the natural birthing community. I’m not having a baby in a hotel. I guess I don’t really have a valid reason, other than yuck. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s fair for the next hotel guest.

You can call me old-fashioned or squeamish. I’m okay with that.

(photo: YouTube)