Pregnancy

Scheduling Births

 

“Scheduling baby’s birth”-new policy

Saint Elizabeth has collaborated with the city’s other hospitals and the physicians in the area to implement a new policy that will only allow parents to “schedule” the birth of their baby during their 39th or 40th week.

We understand that with today’s hectic lifestyles some parents would like to schedule a birth to accommodate work schedules, visiting relatives, and so on. However, the research clearly shows this is NOT the healthiest option for either moms-to-be or their babies.

Only scheduling induced births during the 39th or 40th week is recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).

Why?

The idea is to give both moms-to-be and their babies the best chance at healthy outcomes! We have already seen changes since we implemented this policy in:

• Better labor experience: First-time moms have a better labor experience (they spend LESS time in the hospital in labor with a natural birth; and there are far fewer instances of “hard labor;”
• Cesarean Births: additionally, the number of cesarean births have decreased;
• Fewer babies in the NICU: newborns born closer to their 40th week are usually more physically developed and do not require the critical medical services of our newborn (neonatal) intensive care unit (NICU). We have noticed fewer babies being admitted to our NICU since our new policy went into effect.