The Maternity & Newborn Care Center consists of 20 private suites with private bathrooms, personal refrigerators, and all the equipment needed in a homelike atmosphere. Designed for comfort throughout the birthing process, expectant mothers will deliver in one suite and receive post-partum care in another spacious suite.
Our labor rooms are designed to make you feel at home, while also offering exceptional medical care. We follow an LDR (labor, delivery, and recovery) concept, where you will labor, delivery, and spend skin-to-skin time with your baby after delivery in the same room. After a few hours, we will move you to a similar room to spend the remainder of your postpartum stay. Should a Cesarean be needed, the unit is equipped with 2 obstetrical operating rooms, ready at a moment’s notice.
Each labor room has the following features:
- Private bathroom
- Rocking chair
- Adjustable birthing bed
- A bed for your partner to spend the night
- A refrigerator for snacks for your partner and for you, after your baby’s birth (there is also a larger pantry area on the unit for patient use)
- Squat bar
- Birthing ball, peanut balls–all to assist in your labor
- Fetal monitoring unit
- Television, with closed-circuit videos on mother and baby care
- Free WiFi access
Hunterdon Medical Center encouraged families to ‘room in’, that is, keep their babies with them, in order to promote efficient feeding and parenting skills.
Each postpartum room has the following features:
- Private bathroom
- Rocking chair
- Adjustable bed
- A bed for your partner to spend the night
- A refrigerator for snacks for your partner and for you, after your baby’s birth (there is also a larger pantry area on the unit for patient use)
- Television, with closed-circuit videos on mother and baby care
- Free WiFi access
We understand new parents need their rest, but it is so important to keep your baby close to you! Speak with your nurse about rooming-in, and she will help you to get the rest you need while you are here. Some of the many benefits of keeping your baby with you are:
- Your baby has spent nine months in your womb listening to your heartbeat, breathing and voice. After birth, these are the same things that provide a sense of security and comfort to your baby. It is unrealistic to expect that your newborn baby will be more content in a crib or a nursery, separated from you. Babies miss the womb and skin-to-skin contact with mom is very reassuring.
- There is a great benefit to getting to know your baby’s early feeding cues. Babies will rouse from sleep, become restless, bring their fingers to their mouth, and make mouthing movements when they are hungry. Crying is actually a very late sign of hunger, and a baby who cries to be fed has been hungry for about a half-hour! Parents will want to reward their babies for the early cues, rather than teach the baby that s/he needs to cry to get his needs met. If the baby is in the room with you, you will be able to see these early cues, and feed your baby ‘on cue.’ This will help feedings go more smoothly. A very hungry baby can’t pay attention to what he needs to do to get to the breast. All procedures, except a circumcision, can be done while your baby is with you in your room.
- With 24-hour rooming-in, it has been found that mother’s milk appears in greater volume 24 to 48 hours sooner than in mothers who are separated from their infants. Breastfed infants should only have one five-hour interval of sleep in a 24 hour day and this does not usually occur at night during the first several weeks. It has also been documented in research that there are fewer incidences of breastfeeding problems such as sore nipples and engorgement for women who take advantage of 24-hour rooming-in.
- It is important for mothers to understand their infant’s sleep patterns before going home and it is also important to learn the calming techniques that will help to settle your baby back to sleep. Rooming-in parents are well on the way to achieving two important goals of parenting: to know their baby well and to help their baby feel good.
- Although you may be new at this parenting thing, we believe that the parents are the primary caretakers of normal, healthy newborns. Our nurses are here to assist you and teach you the skills you will need to take your baby home. Rooming-in allows you and your baby to get to know each other and to get in harmony with each other. Hands-on experience in changing, dressing, burping, and holding will help you feel confident sooner leading you on a path to a better parenting journey.
- Studies show that parents actually sleep better with their babies in their rooms! Perhaps this is because the family feels more secure, knowing their baby is right there.