Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media beginning October 1, pregnant women will no longer be able to give birth at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson. Childbirth services will now be moved to The Birth Place at Albany Medical Center. Pre-natal and post-natal care will continue to be offered at Columbia Memorial Health offices in Hudson and Catskill, but women will have to go to Albany for labor and delivery. The decision was made based on the declining number of births at the Hudson hospital, as well as a shortage of obstetricians, Dr. Clifford J. Belden, Columbia Memorial Health's chief medical officer said. Ten years ago, Columbia Memorial Health handled approximately 600 births each year; in the past year that number dropped to fewer than 300. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.