The Birth Place at Community Hospital
The Birth Place at Community Hospital has been proudly delivering greatness since 2016! This unit is an eight bed LDRP which includes Labor, Delivery, Recovery and Postpartum Care. This is significant because once a patient enters the hospital they will remain in the same room they delivered in until they are discharged without having to move to a different floor or unit.
Tour The Birth Place at Community Hospital
Thank you for your interest in The Birth Place at Community Hospital! We would be honored to support you on your special journey. Our labor and delivery team provides expert care every step of the way.
Birthing Plan
Each LDRP has a private jetted soaking tub to be used as hydrotherapy in assisting with natural pain relief. We also utilize birthing balls and aromatherapy to enhance the non-medicated pain relief experience. For those who do want medicated pain relief, we have 24-hour on call anesthesiologists to place epidurals and utilize nitrous oxide, a method of pain diversion therapy.
Our state-of-the-art facility promotes breastfeeding and bonding as one of the most important steps to motherhood. We utilize the “Golden Hour” where all babies and moms remain skin to skin until the first breastfeed has occurred. Furthermore, we have created a space that is large enough in the LDRPs that moms and babies never have to be separated.
We offer lactation consults, birthing classes and private tours of the unit. Our highly qualified staff of registered nurses, labor techs, obstetricians, neonatal nurse practitioners and certified nurse-midwives will tailor each patient’s birth to be a safe, meaningful and individualized experience.
Pain Management
Community Hospital strives to make your birth experience exactly what you desire it to be. A wide variety of pain management options are available to all of our patients.
Natural pain relief modalities: Each room is equipped with a whirl pool tub for hydrotherapy. Patients may choose to get into the tub for pain management in between monitoring of the baby and mother. Our spa like atmosphere with battery operated candles, aromatherapy options, and an unlimited supply of hot water make this an option of choice for many expectant mothers.
Labor balls are also available upon request and all of our nurses are skilled at applying sacral pressure and massage to help relive the back pain that some patients experience.
Birthing balls also help widen the pelvis to allow the baby to come down more effectively. (Link to Labor Ball)
Squat bars are also available for those patients who feel like this decreases pain during pushing. (Link to squat bars)
Nitrous Oxide: Nitrous Oxide is a gas used for labor pain. A mixture of 50% nitrous gas and 50% oxygen is inhaled through a mask. Inhaling the nitrous about 45 seconds before the contraction starts helps the maximum effect of the nitrous take place at the peak of the contraction. Nitrous is self-administered by the laboring mother and most patients find it to be very effective both in early labor and as the body begins to change later in labor. Nitrous oxide is cleared through the lungs so after the patient stops inhaling the nitrous it clears for the mothers system immediately with no effect on the baby. There are only a handful of hospitals that offer this method of pain relief and we are excited to be able to make it available to you!
Narcotic analgesics: Narcotic analgesics are medications that are administered through an IV for pain relief. Most narcotics are effective for about 30-45 minutes. They make the patient drowsy, they take the edge off of the contractions but do not entirely eliminate contractions. Narcotic analgesics do cross the placenta and there is an effect on the baby. Timing of administering a narcotic analgesic is important but your nurses, midwives, and doctors are very skilled at determining when to give the medication. Laboring mothers report this is sometimes “all the medication they need to get through the last little part of labor.”
Epidural Anesthesia: An epidural is a medication that is placed in the patients back. A tiny catheter is left in the epidural space in the back that allows medication to be continuously administered until it is removed after delivery. Although it does not eliminate all of the pain during delivery it is very effective in eliminating the pain of contractions. Unlike a narcotic, the medication does not cross the placenta so there is no effect on the baby.
Post Labor and Delivery
Rooming-in 24 Hours a Day
According to the Health Behavior News Service, which is part of the Center for Advancing Health, many studies support mother-infant rooming-in practice because of its many benefits, both short and long term. These benefits include:
- Better mother-infant bonding.
- Increased frequency of breastfeeding since it enables feeding on demand.
- Reduction in the rate of sudden infant death syndrome and of other newborn complications.
Skin to Skin Immediately After Birth
According to the International Breastfeeding Centre in an article titled “The Importance of Skin to Skin Contact,” the skin to skin contact immediately after birth, which lasts for at least an hour (and should continue for as many hours as possible throughout the day and night for the first number of weeks) has the following positive effects. The baby:
- Is more likely to latch on.
- Is more likely to latch on well.
- Maintains body temperature better even than in an incubator.
- Maintains normal heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure.
- Has higher blood sugar.
- Is less likely to cry.
- Is more likely to breastfeed exclusively and breastfeed longer.
- Will indicate when ready to feed.
Breastfeeding
What is colostrum and how does it help my baby?
Your breastmilk helps your baby grow healthy and strong from day one.
Your first milk is colostrum, also known as liquid gold. It's called liquid gold for its deep yellow color. Colostrum (coh-LOSS-trum) is the thick first milk that you make during pregnancy and just after birth. This milk is very rich in nutrients and includes antibodies to protect your baby from infections.
Colostrum also helps your newborn infant’s digestive system to grow and function. Your baby gets only a small amount of colostrum at each feeding, because the stomach of a newborn infant is tiny and can hold only a small amount.
Your milk changes as your baby grows. Colostrum changes into mature milk by the third to fifth day after birth. This mature milk has just the right amount of fat, sugar, water and protein to help your baby continue to grow. It looks thinner than colostrum, but it has the nutrients and antibodies your baby needs for healthy growth.
How does breastfeeding compare to formula-feeding?
Formula can be harder for your baby to digest. For most babies, especially premature babies, breastmilk substitutes like formula are harder to digest than breastmilk. Formula is made from cow’s milk, and it often takes time for babies’ stomachs to adjust to digesting it.
Life can be easier for you when you breastfeed. Breastfeeding may seem like it takes a little more effort than formula-feeding at first. But breastfeeding can make your life easier once you and your baby settle into a good routine. When you breastfeed, there are no bottles and nipples to sterilize. You do not have to buy, measure, and mix formula. And there are no bottles to warm in the middle of the night! When you breastfeed, you can satisfy your baby’s hunger right away.
Not breastfeeding costs money. Formula and feeding supplies can cost well over $1,500 each year. Breastfed babies may also be sick less often, which can help keep your baby’s health costs lower.
Breastfeeding keeps mother and baby close. Physical contact is important to newborns. It helps them feel more secure, warm, and comforted. Mothers also benefit from this closeness. The skin to skin contact boosts your oxytocin (OKS-ee-TOH-suhn) levels. Oxytocin is a hormone that helps breastmilk flow and can calm the mother.
Breastfeeding may help the mother lose weight. Many women who breastfed their babies said it helped them get back to their pre-pregnancy weight more quickly, but experts are still looking at the effects of breastfeeding on weight loss.