About Our Services
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 uses 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 when medically safe
- Encouraging frequent 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
Should a cesarean birth be part of your plan, or become necessary, we support family-centered cesarean births by:
- Placing your baby skin-to-skin with you as quickly as possible (when medically safe) in the operating room or when returning to the labor and delivery department
- Minimizing the time your baby is away from you
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 your 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 as much as possible after birth. 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 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.
- Delayed bathing: Our goal is to delay bathing until after at least 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.
- Quiet time: Observed daily from 1 p.m. to 3 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 member(s).