Delivery – The Women’s’ Clinic – Minden Medical Center
Prenatal Care – Why it matters – The Women’s’ Clinic – Minden Medical Center
You’ve checked and double checked – and then checked again just to be sure. And all the home pregnancy tests agree: You’re pregnant!
Now it’s time for a flurry of phone calls to share the news with family and friends. Just be sure at least one of those calls is to The Women’s Clinic – it’s time to make an appointment for your first prenatal checkup.
The Best Start
Prenatal checkups are essential for both you and your baby. Getting regular prenatal care can:
- Help you have a healthy baby.
- Decrease your risk of having your baby too early.
- Help your doctor find and treat potential problems early.
In general, you’ll have about one prenatal checkup per month for the first several months of pregnancy. As you get closer to your due date – or if you have any health conditions that need to be monitored more closely – you’ll need more frequent checkups.
During prenatal visits, your doctor will:
- Determine the baby’s due date.
- Check the baby’s heartbeat and growth.
- Check your weight and blood pressure.
- Check you for problems, such as anemia, infections or gestational diabetes.
- Discuss healthy habits, such as eating well, getting enough folic acid, and not smoking or drinking during your pregnancy.
- Answer your questions and concerns.
- Establish long –term friendship, not just a nine-month relationship.
- Go over maternity services offered to you.
Personalized maternity services for our patients are provided at Minden Medical Center’s Baby Place where they support your individual wishes and give newborns a healthy start. The staff of the Baby Place work together to make sure mothers are comfortable which facilitates optimal labor experiences. They believe that pregnancy and childbirth are beautiful and wondrous events to be embraced with deep respect and celebrated for the miracle that it is. They provide the kind of care parents want—reliable, compassionate and tender—and strive to make your pregnancy and birthing experiences special and memorable.
Minden Medical Center’s Level II Nursery offers new moms the assurance that if their infants arrive early or experience complications and need special care, they will receive immediate attention from staff of excellent pediatricians who can stabilize and transport babies, in rare instances, that need NICU care.
Expecting Excellence? Minden Medical Center Delivers!
The all-private labor & delivery rooms are designed with comfort in mind and to provide a homelike environment. Mother and baby stay together as much as possible, from the skin-to-skin (Kangaroo Care) contact after birth to the first bath specially designed for newborns. Babies also are allowed to “room in” with their mothers to facilitate breastfeeding on demand.
Immediate family members enjoy visitor privileges which request children under the age of 12, be a brother or sister of the newborn. They are welcome to visit mom and baby with an adult after delivery. The sleeper sofa in each room converts to a bed for one overnight guest and rooms feature televisions along with private bathrooms.
- Obstetricians Dr. Robert Russell, Dr. Stephen C. Coleman, Dr. James L. Gates, Nina Fertitta, Dr. Russell Burlison; as well as, Pediatricians Dr. Elizabeth Phillips, Dr. Michael Ulich, Dr. Cristal Kirby and Dr. Melinda Willis – On staff to deliver and care for your newborn.
- Specialized Care – Certified nurses trained in Fetal Heart Monitoring and Breast-Feeding Counseling.
- Hugs Tag System – Unprecedented peace of mind security during your infant’s hospital stay.
- Skin to Skin Contact (Kangaroo Care) – Immediate after birth-bonding time with your baby.
- Level II Nursery – Caring, respectful staff who appropriately care for your newborn. Established relationship with Level III Nurseries if the need to transfer arises.
- Labor & Deliver Rooms – NEW and spacious to provide a home-like environment to accommodate you and your family!
- GIFT (Guided Infant Feeding Techniques) Certified Facility – 1st hospital in North Louisiana to receive GIFT certification.
- LaPQC Birth Ready Designation