The first babies born at the Center of Excellence for Women and Children at

 

St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center in Little Rock are now taking their first steps into toddlerhood, but the hospital's enhanced birthing service line offerings are already running strong.

 

In March of last year, St. Vincent opened the center at the new hospital facility, returning birthing services to the main medical campus from St. Vincent Doctors' Hospital, where they had spent the past few years. Not only did the health system re-incorporate obstetrics to the main campus, it re-imagined labor, delivery and recovery with the patients' and families' comfort, safety and bonding opportunities in mind.

 

Amy Funderburk is the service line administrator for the new center.

 

"Everything we do is about family-centered care. We still provide the top quality medical care we always have, but we've brought our environmental amenities and service offerings to an enhanced standard of care so the whole birthing experience is special and comfortable for the family."

 

The new center's design places the Mother/Baby Unit, Neonatal Intensive Care, Well Baby Nursery and a Gyn/Pediatric Surgery Unit all in one connected area, for maximum convenience and expedience, she said. Labor and Delivery is on a separate floor, but the patient only transfers once after admission, spending the labor and delivery in one room and transferring to the Mother/Baby Unit afterwards.

 

Patients are admitted into one of 10 large birthing rooms, where all the action happens.

 

"You are admitted to that room, have labor in that room, deliver in that room, and recover in that room, until you're ready to go to the Mother/Baby Unit," Funderburk said, "and the great thing is that we have the infant care center right there with you, so the baby stays with you the entire time so you can bond."

 

Two operating rooms on the unit are used for Caesarian sections. Unlike some hospitals that put C-section babies directly in the nursery, Funderburk said it was important to St. Vincent that those newborns have the same care that regular deliveries do, so they, too, are brought back to the mother's room to stay.

 

The Labor and Delivery Unit also contains a High-Risk Antenatal Unit for treating and monitoring complicated pregnancy conditions like diabetes, hypertension and preeclampsia.

 

Amenities are the name of the game at the Mother/Baby Unit. The large rooms have a warm, homey feel, Funderburk said, with wood laminate floors and upgraded linens. Standard hospital bedding has been ousted in favor of quality sheets, comforters, king-size pillows and body pillows, and large fluffy towels. Each new mother receives a complementary white terrycloth robe with the Women's Center logo, and a hotel-style toiletry kit for anything that did not get packed in the scurry to get to the hospital. The rooms contain a pull-out bed for fathers or companions and once again, an infant care center for baby to bunk with the new parents. A nursery is also available down the hall when the parents need to rest.

 

Funderburk said that the dining options for mothers had received some of the ravest reviews. Patients order from a menu and call for their chef-prepared meals when they want them, just like room service. The chef takes special requests and an additional meal for dad is only $6.

 

The unit also includes a large Solarium Suite available to rent per night for extra guests or family members, with most of the cost going as a tax-deductible donation to the hospital's foundation.

 

For infants needing intensive care, the Level 3 NICU with its four neonatologists is adjacent to the Mother/Baby Unit. NICU Nurse Manager Jenny Bowe, RN, said this means parents and their children do not have to be separated by too much distance. The unit has rooms especially for multiple births and is equipped with the low light and quiet conditions that are developmentally optimal for premature infants.

 

"Everything is conducive to the developmental needs of the premature babies here," Bowe explained, "because it was built with their developmental care specifically in mind."

 

Funderburk said that when parents go home before their children are released, St. Vincent accommodates them by providing space for parents to come back to the unit for a night with their child, close to expert nursing help, to learn any special monitoring equipment or medical needs they must understand before taking the baby home with them alone.

 

The unit is secured with an advanced electronic security system that does mother-baby matching, one of the few in the state and the only such system in Little Rock, Funderburk said.