About Our Services

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We strive to provide patient and family centered care during your entire stay with us. We encourage you to work alongside your healthcare team to create a birth plan that is suited just for you and your family. The nursing staff is trained in supporting vaginal births and use different approaches to help you have the delivery you desire while addressing your medical needs. Some of these approaches include:

• Limiting interventions during labor and birth
• Encouraging frequent movement and position changes
• Offering intermittent monitoring for low-risk mothers and wireless fetal monitoring to allow you to move more freely
• Use of peanut balls and birthing balls
• Offering a variety of essential oils for aromatherapy to help enhance your delivery experience. Essential oils are available to improve energy, help you cope with labor pain, decrease feelings of stress or anxiety as well as to improve nausea and headaches.
• Offering nitrous oxide as an option for coping with labor
  • Some of the benefits include:
    • Ease of non-invasive, self-administration - empowers patients to have more control of their own pain management
    • Fast acting analgesic - takes effect in minutes and has a short duration of effect, wearing off in minutes
    • Supported as a safe and effective form of pain control by national organizations, including American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), and American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM).

Should a cesarean birth be part of your plan, or become necessary, we support family-centered cesarean births by:

• Offering a clear viewing drape to allow you to see your baby be born
• Placing your baby skin-to-skin with you as quickly as possible in the operating room, and minimizing the time your baby is away from you
• Keeping your baby with you and your family throughout your procedure and during recovery so you are not separated from your baby, unless desired or medically necessary.

The staff is trained to care for your baby in ways that are proven to be the most beneficial. We encourage you to work with your healthcare team to learn how to care for your baby in the ways that meet you and your family’s needs. Some approaches we use to benefit you and your baby include:

• Rooming in: We encourage your baby to stay in the room with you as much as possible. Rooming in helps you to learn your baby’s feeding cues and sleep/wake cycles, as well as bond with your baby. Rooming in also will improve your comfort level in caring for and feeding your newborn once you go home.
• Skin-to-skin contact: Every baby, regardless of how they are fed – breast or bottle – should stay skin to skin for the first 1-3 hours after birth, and as much as possible after that. Skin to skin has been proven to aid in keeping your baby’s temperature and blood sugar levels normal, as well as to decrease fussiness and improve feeding success.
• Breastfeeding support: A lactation consultant will visit you daily to offer any assistance you may need with breastfeeding. The nursing staff is also knowledgeable and experienced in assisting with breastfeeding and can answer questions or concerns you may have.
  • We also offer you the choice to use pasteurized human milk to for infant feeding supplementation if necessary. Pasteurized human milk is carefully screened, pasteurized and tested and is safe to feed your baby. Pasteurized human milk offers the benefits of mother’s milk in providing nutrients your baby needs while being easy to digest.
• Delayed bathing: Our goal is to delay bathing until 12 hours of life, which has been shown to improve temperature stability and feeding success. Baths can now be done in your postpartum room, allowing for the whole family to be involved! Your baby will be placed skin to skin to rewarm after his or her bath.
• Nap time: Daily from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. This is a time for you to get a well-deserved break from the hustle and bustle of the hospital. You may ask visitors to refrain from visiting during this time. You should experience little to no interruptions, unless medically indicated, so that you can catch up on some rest and bond with your new family.

For more information regarding maternity services, please contact the perinatal program coordinator at (704) 660-4020.