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At Saint Mary’s Hospital Women and Infants’ Center, we believe childbirth is not only a biological happening, but also a creative act, a social event and a spiritual experience that blends cultural values, beliefs, and practices. We offer a full range of birth options and services to ensure that your experience meets and exceeds your expectations. Our staff is trained to offer a full range of traditional and complementary services. Beyond the birth of your baby, Saint Mary’s offers a full range of gynecological services for your health and wellness.
We know that having a baby is one of life’s most rewarding experiences. To help you prepare, Saint Mary’s offers several courses taught by Women and Infants’ Center staff. These include sibling classes; expectant parent classes for first-time mom and dads; a refresher preparation course; and breastfeeding classes. For more information and specifics on classes, please click here.
Our attractive family-oriented birthing suites allow mothers to labor, deliver and recover in the same comfortable room with the most advanced technical and emergency support close at hand, including a surgical suite and a Level II intensive care nursery staffed by experienced neonatalogists. We encourage mothers and babies to room-in, sibling visits, breast-feeding and birthing coaches. In fact, Saint Mary's was the first hospital in the state to introduce water birth as a delivery option.
Thanks to a new system called Fetal Telemetry, expectant mothers can now walk around through labor, a practice which often speeds up labor and eases the mother's discomfort. Fetal telemetry transmits the baby's heartbeat back to the monitor where the baby's vital signs are displayed graphically and in continuous sight of nurses at the nurses station. The system is also armed with a built-in alarm that signals nurses anywhere on the floor if a baby is in distress.
The Birthplace, affiliated with our Women and Infants’ Center, offers a safe and comfortable setting for women with low-risk pregnancies who choose to give birth naturally with a certified nurse midwife. The Birthplace has its own family room, kitchen, whirlpool tub and children’s play area. Since it is located next to the Women and Infants’ center, it is an easy and safe transition to relocate the new mother in the rare case of a complication.
Education programs before childbirth help prepare families for early discharge from the Birthplace, usually within six to 12 hours after delivery. The Birthplace experience also includes a postpartum home visit by the midwife to check on the mother, baby, and rest of the family. For more information about The Birthplace, click here.
Saint Mary’s wants to give a little something special to our new moms in the Women and Infants Center. That’s why we offer a complimentary 30-minute postnatal massage performed by a licensed massage therapist specializing in mother massage. It’s a well deserved treat after giving birth, and many moms have said it’s a wonderful experience that actually helps reduce pain! Our massage therapist is available Monday, Wednesday, and Friday- but if the child arrives on any other day, mom will receive a voucher so she can make an appointment for her massage at an alternate time.
Each year we welcome more than 1,500 babies into the world. We’re excited about your birth options at Saint Mary’s Women and Infants’ Center. Remember- great expectations are delivered your way.
For more information on any of these services, please call us at (203) 709-6184.
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