Making You Feel Comfortable and Supported
No matter how your baby is delivered, Women & Infants has a variety of comforting amenities that will make your baby's birth a positive experience. From conventional medication options, to aromatherapy, adjustable beds and whirlpool tubs, we have a variety of services to help mothers relax during birth.
Welcoming Your Bundle of Joy
Mothers with low-risk pregnancies can take advantage of several delivery options.
For patients wanting a more natural childbirth experience, the hospital's Alternative Birthing Center offers a relaxing, private room so that a mother can give birth in comfort, surrounded by supportive family or friends. These rooms allow a number of amenities to help each mother tailor her birthing experience to her own needs.
Our labor, delivery, recovery rooms labor, delivery, and recovery (LDR) rooms allow you to birth your baby and recover in one room. Your bed has 22 different positions for your comfort. A birthing bar is optional so you may squat during your baby's birth. You may have continuous or intermittent fetal monitoring in this area depending on your health care provider. Your baby will still be monitored if you choose to walk in the private walking corridor during labor. Traditionally one LDR nurse cares for each mother. There is a bathroom for you in the room, and a bathroom at the beginning of the unit for coaches and partners. Your bathroom is shared with another laboring mother in the next room.
Gentle Cesarean Sections
Having a cesarean section can be scary for first-time or experienced moms, but Women & Infants' staff make the experience a little easier by offering gentle cesarean sections.
We do that by providing a quiet room, free from noise and conversations and filled with the music of mom's choice.We dim the lights and encourage the dad or significant other to be in the room during the delivery. And most importantly, we encourage bonding right away through skin-to-skin contact and minimizing the time that mom and baby are separated after delivery.
Women & Infants is pleased to provide the gentle cesarean section at the request of the patient and with the permission of the delivering obstetrical provider.
Getting Settled: Skin-to-Skin and Rooming In
Skin-to-skin is the best way for the bonding experience to begin immediately after birth. Following a gentle cesarean section or a vaginal delivery, the baby is placed skin-to-skin with mom immediately after a brief exam by the pediatrician. The mother's skin acts as an all-natural incubator and ensures the baby is warm, allowing mother and baby to enjoy precious, early bonding moments, bypassing the time the baby would traditionally spend in the warmer.
It's important to keep mom and baby together as soon and as much as possible. Once the mother recovers, the labor nurse brings mom and baby to her room on the Mother/Baby units. There, the labor nurse, mother/baby nurse and mother all take a moment to discuss the plan of care and to answer any questions the mother may have. The pediatric provider will also conduct the baby's first exam in the room within 24 hours.
Once in the postpartum room, all moms and babies will remain together, rooming-in.
We will be encouraging moms to refrain from taking visitors during the first hour on the Mother/Baby unit so that she has time to settle in with her baby. We are also encouraging the significant other to stay with mom as much as possible to help her out.
Rooming-in is supported by the World Health Organization and offers incredible benefits for mom and baby.
Shhhh: Quiet Hours
Between staff checking on mother and baby and visits from family and friends, time spent in the Mother/Baby Unit could seem quite busy. To help mom relax, Women & Infants has a new quiet hours policy.
From 2 to 4 pm, nurses will not enter the mother's room unless she requests a nurse. During these hours, new mothers can relax and reflect, become more comfortable breastfeeding, or simply spend quiet time with their babies.
This is another way we are endeavoring to be mindful of our patients' needs. We leave it up to the mother whether she wants us to enter the room or if she'd like visitors during this time.
Here to Help
Patients in the hospital may reach out to our Patient and Family Experience staff.
After a mother returns home, a nurse calls to check on her healing and the baby's progress. Women & Infants also offers the Warm Line, an important resource that allows new moms to speak with a nurse about any questions or concerns as they arise. If you have questions, call (800) 711-7011.
