I am comfortable.
Your labor and delivery plan
We Are Here For You
When it comes time to deliver your baby – know we are here, ready and waiting for you.
Your Birth Center
Providing quality care and comfort are our top priorities. Warm, inviting, private suites offer mom, baby and family all the comforts of home. Babies room-in with family so our nurses can educate the whole family on new baby and mom care. Lactation consultants will visit each woman who chooses to breastfeed. We provide room-service style meals so that mom may order her food according to her own schedule. For safety and security, all entrances to the Women & Children’s Center are locked. Visitors are invited in with your permission and security cameras monitor the hallways.
All of our private, spacious suites have showers, refrigerators, television, free wi-fi and a comfy sofa-bed for visitors. We encourage you to bring personal items to help create a relaxing environment for you – including relaxing music and comfortable clothing.
Quality Care
Our expert, caring team includes physicians, surgeons, midwives, nurses, lactation consultants, and other clinicians including a child life expert - all centered on you, and your family.
Interpreter services
Services are available as needed for those who are visually or sight impaired or who speak a foreign language. Just contact your nurse or the switchboard for more information.
Nothing About Me Without Me
At the beginning of every shift, your nurses will bring the shift report to your bedside. This will allow you to hear the information being relayed to the next nurse about your progress towards discharge. It will also allow you to be an active participant in your plan of care and development of goals for that day. After a plan is mutualized between you and your nurses, it will be written on a whiteboard in your room. This will serve as a reminder to both you and the staff as to what YOUR plan of care is for that day. These rounds occur typically at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Pain control during labor
Women’s perceptions of labor pain vary, so do their choices about pain management and comfort. We have many options for non-medicated and medicated labor to help you through the process. Some options include:
- Jacuzzi for comfort during labor
- wireless fetal monitoring
- birth balls
- pain medications
- nitrous oxide (laughing gas)
- epidurals
- doulas
Cesarean Birth
Should your birth experience include a C-section, rest assured that you won’t need to go far. The C-section surgical room is located right in the Women & Children’s Center. In most cases you will remain fully alert and your support person can remain with you for the birth. Your baby will be placed skin-to-skin with you as soon as possible. You will often be able to touch and get to know your baby while still in the surgical room. Your support partner will also be able to hold the baby as long as the baby is in good health.
Special Care Nursery
Sometimes babies need extra care after delivery. The Hannaford Special Care Nursery at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital offers a family-centered model of care to facilitate bonding and attachment between parents and newborns, and prepare the family for the transition to home.
Located right in the Women & Children’s Center and designed for multiple levels of care, the nursery features a stabilization area for infants awaiting transport to a neonatal intensive care unit, and six private special care rooms for preterm up to 32 weeks. Our private special care rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art monitoring systems, radiant warmers, bassinets and a sleeping sofa so you can stay with your baby.
The Hannaford Special Care Nursery also includes a specially-designed family suite with an area for dining, showering and visiting with family.
My Family’s Comfort
The Women & Children’s unit supports family as part of your experience as much as you want it to. Your partner is just as much a part of this experience as you are. Visitors are encouraged if you are feeling well, but your health and wellness remain our top priority. “Family Rest Time” happens daily from 1pm-3pm, when visitors are asked to refrain from visiting so mothers and babies can spend quality time together.
A Unique Birthing Experience
Wentworth-Douglass Hospital provides a birthing experience like no other, extending our support well beyond the day of birth. From maternal/newborn visits to ongoing lactation nurse assistance and access, we are committed to you (and your loved ones, too). Maternal/newborn visits are offered either in person at 15 Old Rollins Road Suite 105 or virtually.
Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC)
Wentworth-Douglass Hospital offers women who have previously had cesarean births the opportunity to try for a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC).
For women who are considered good candidates for VBAC, a vaginal birth can have many benefits, including faster recovery times, shorter hospital stays, less discomfort and less chance of blood transfusions and postpartum infections.
About 60-80% of women who attempt VBAC are successful in delivering vaginally. Talk to your obstetrician or midwife about the benefits and risks of VBAC based on your medical history.
Cesarean Birth - What Can I Expect
If you are scheduled for a Cesarean delivery, this PDF resource describes how you can prepare and what to expect during the surgery and immediately after your baby is born.
Skin to Skin
Skin to skin is the process of putting your baby directly on your bare chest after birth and during your hospital stay. Skin to skin increases bonding, gets breastfeeding off to a good start, keeps the baby warm, and calms mother and baby. At Wentworth-Douglass, all babies whether vaginal born or cesarean born, who are transitioning well, are placed skin to skin with mom for at least one hour immediately after birth.
The benefits of skin to skin include:
- Babies who go skin to skin immediately after birth have an easier time transitioning to their new environment
- Babies are more likely to latch at the breast if breastfeeding
- Babies have more stable and normal temperatures
- Babies have more stable heart rates and blood pressures
- Babies have more stable blood sugars
- Babies are less likely to cry
- Babies are more likely to breastfeed exclusively and for longer duration
- It is comforting for both moms and babies
- Skin to skin with dad can help infants feel less stressed when mothers and babies are separated for medical indications
- Skin to skin with fathers increases attachment and allows for special bonds to be formed
Breastfeeding
As a designated “Baby-Friendly” Hospital, we are committed to helping you achieve your breastfeeding goals. More than 80% of our mothers begin breastfeeding, a rate that is well above the national standards.
This support begins from the moment your baby is born. Placing your baby skin to skin on your chest after he or she is born is shown to help establish successful breastfeeding and bonding as your baby transitions into the world. If skin-to-skin is not possible when the baby is born due to special medical needs, the practice is still beneficial when it becomes medically possible.
Every family is supported by caring nurses with extensive breastfeeding education, and board certified lactation consultants are available to support you in breastfeeding and answer your questions. Once you and your baby go home, our lactation consultants are available by phone to offer on-going support. For questions or assistance contact the Lactation Consultants at (603) 740-2233 or the Women & Children’s Center at (603) 740-2261.
Click here for additional resources on reasons to breastfeed.
Safe Sleep
- Always place babies to sleep on their backs during naps and at nighttime
- Use a firm mattress covered by a fitted sheet, avoid loose sheets and blankets
- Place the crib in an area that is always smoke free
- Don’t place babies to sleep on adult beds, chairs, sofas, waterbeds, pillows, or cushions
- Avoid placing toys or any soft bedding in the crib with the baby
- Use sleep clothing, such as sleepers, sleep sacks, and wearable blankets as an alternative to blankets.
Wentworth-Douglass is recognized as a “Bronze Certified Safe Sleep Hospital" by the National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program for its commitment to best practices and education on infant safe sleep.
Circumcision: What you should know
After the birth of a male child, parents must decide whether or not they want their son circumcised. Although circumcision is one of the most common operative procedures performed in American hospitals today, parents are often unsure about making this decision based on factual information.
- Is circumcision medically necessary?
- Is circumcision painful?
- What if l choose not to circumcise my son?
Read this helpful guide to help you make your decision.
Safe practices while at the hospital
- Hand hygiene is the single most important thing anyone can do to prevent the spread of infection from one person to another. Our team follows protocols to ensure a safe environment.
- Cover your cough: Your health could be at risk with exposure to so many different germs. Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue whenever you cough or sneeze. If you do not have a tissue, sneeze or cough into your sleeve. Germs can be passed from one person to another within a three foot area.
- Call, don’t fall: Make sure your call button is within reach. If you are not certain you can get out of bed on your own, call for help. Most falls happen in the hospital when people get up to go to the bathroom without help.
- Express your concerns: If you have a question or issue you are concerned about, first please talk to your caregiver. Most questions and concerns can be addressed quickly by the staff on your unit. If your concerns have not been addressed, you may ask for a supervisor or call the Patient Advocate by dialing 2823 on your phone.
- Be your own advocate: If you cannot speak, question and make decisions for yourself, ask a trusted family member or friend to help you. That person can help remember information you have asked and speak up for you if you cannot. If you do not understand the language being spoken, ask for an interpreter. Make sure you completely understand the treatment you are agreeing to before you sign an “informed consent.” Be sure your doctor and family understand your wishes for treatment if you are unable to make decisions.
Postpartum Mental Health
One in five women experience depression and/or anxiety while pregnant or following the birth of a baby. Often, the symptoms are disregarded as being related to other causes (fatigue, feeding issues, etc.). However, they may be an indication of postpartum depression or anxiety.
If you are not feeling like yourself, support is available. It’s important to speak with your healthcare provider about how you’re feeling physically as well as emotionally. Contact your provider’s office today.
Visit our Postpartum Mental Health page to learn the signs and symptoms of postpartum depression and anxiety and learn about the resources available to help.
