After Your Baby's Born
Labor and Delivery
Your baby will be delivered into a world that feels a little more like home in one of our beautifully decorated, private labor and delivery recovery suites. To ensure you and baby are progressing smoothly in labor, your care team will monitor contraction patterns hourly during early labor, and continuously into active labor. To alleviate much of the discomfort from contractions up until delivery, medication can be given hourly. You may also request an epidural during active labor if you are at least four centimeters dilated. Epidural anesthesia is authorized by your physician and given by an anesthesiologist.
Once you have welcomed your new baby into the world, you’ll stay in your labor room (6th floor) for about two hours and then transfer to a postpartum room (4th floor) to continue bonding with your family. You can expect to stay with us for 1-2 days if you have a vaginal delivery, or 2-3 days if you have a C-section.
Brahm’s Lullaby
After your delivery, Brahm’s Lullaby will be played over the public address system of the hospital to celebrate the arrival of your little miracle.
The Magic of Skin-to-Skin
Holding your baby skin-to-skin as much as possible during your hospital stay maximizes your bonding experience and is critical to your child's growth and development. This is especially important immediately after delivery, when you, daddy and baby are together as a family for the first time. Skin-to-skin contact allows you to exchange sensory information which causes baby to search for the breast. It also helps baby stay warm, maintain blood sugar, stay relaxed and calm, and breathe more naturally. Baby will begin to demonstrate feeding behaviors that will allow him or her to latch on and begin to learn how to feed from your breast. Practicing skin-to-skin contact as much as possible during the first few weeks fulfills your baby’s natural need to be in close contact with you. When baby does not sense closeness, he or she may become stressed. Skin-to-skin contact also promotes breast milk production, so having physical contact is important to establishing an abundant supply.