St. Charles Hospital
Do you offer private rooms? If so, what is the cost?
Yes. Currently we have eight private rooms; however, we will be doing a renovation of the maternity unit and when complete, the unit will host 16 refurbished private rooms.
Do you offer prenatal, sibling or other classes?
Yes, St. Charles offers a C-section class and childbirth preparation/lamaze, free maternity unit tours, newborn parenting 101, daddy boot camp, as well as mommy’s little helper sibling class.
What special things do you do for the mother and baby?
The new dad gets to push a button in the labor/delivery suite when the baby is born and Brahms’ Lullaby plays through the labor/delivery and maternal/child units. In addition, St. Charles offers new parents a private “Dinner for Two” the night before they are discharged. It’s a three-course meal with a salad, entrees include surf/turf, chicken or salmon and dessert is Junior’s cheesecake or chocolate mountain cake.
Do you have an on-site neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)?
Yes. St. Charles Hospital hosts a six-bed Level II NICU, which means we care for babies born at 32 weeks gestational age or greater, as well as babies who are full-term but require close monitoring, breathing assistance or intravenous antibiotics after birth.
Do you have a labor and delivery room?
Yes.
Are doulas or midwives allowed?
If a patient would like a doula, she can hire one and have her present for support during labor and delivery. We do not have midwives on staff.
What kind of security measures do you have in place to make sure the baby is safe?
The labor/delivery and maternity units feature security and monitoring technology to ensure the safety of our patients. Guests and other staff in the hospital must be buzzed in by staff and all newborns wear an alarmed security device that activates if the baby is brought anywhere near every exit door on the unit.
Is there a breast-feeding coach and lactation consultant available on-site? Does the hospital support breast- and/or bottle feeding?
Yes, we have one full-time certified lactation consultant. All of the mother-baby nurses are certified breast-feeding counselors. St. Charles supports both breast- and bottle-feeding.
Is videotaping/photographing the birth allowed? A photographer for newborns available?
Photographs are allowed and we do have a newborn photographer.
What do the rooms look like?
Do you offer anything special for moms during labor (i.e. hydrobath, labor ball, etc.)?
Patients can bring in their own labor balls – most do not use them.
Do you offer a hospital tour?
Yes, free tours of the delivery rooms, nursery and postpartum rooms are offered.
Does the hospital do cord blood banking?
Patients make their own contracts with cord blood banking companies. We do not supply the kits and we don’t have contracts with any bank.
Do you offer any parting swag bags with samples?
Parents are given a blue canvas bag for boys and a pink canvas bag for girls. Patients are also given hand-knit hats for their baby.
Are siblings allowed to visit? Can the spouse sleep in the room?
Yes, to both.
What are the visiting hours?
Spouses/partners are allowed to remain with the patient. Sibling and grandparent visiting hours are 2 to 4 p.m. and open visiting hours are 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
What’s the rate of C-sections at the hospital?
43.3 percent.
What’s the rate of breast-feeding mothers?
About 83.7 percent of infants are fed any breast milk.
What is the episiotomy rate?
15.6% of vaginal births included an episiotomy.
Will my baby be able to sleep in the same room as me? Is there a nursery?
Yes to both questions.
Average length of a postpartum stay?
Two days for vaginal delivery and four days for C-section.
Does the hospital offer anything new/cutting edge?
St. Charles Hospital’s maternity unit will soon undergo a complete renovation of each room, converting the unit to 16 private-appointed rooms. St. Charles Hospital supports a mother/baby couplet model of care, where one nurse cares for both the baby and the mother, which allows staff to have an enhanced teaching opportunity with mothers and families, promote family bonding and create awareness of the newborns’ patterns.