Labor & Delivery

Pre-Register for Childbirth

Labor & Delivery

Our labor and delivery team are trained and educated in progressive labor and support techniques to ensure you have a pleasant birthing experience. We offer a variety of birthing plans that are tailored to your needs and wants.

Natural Birth

Natural birth, commonly known as vaginal birth occurs when the baby is born through the birth canal. Vaginal births typically have short hospital stays, low infection rates, quick recovery, and babies are likely to have a lower risk of respiratory issues.

Cesarean Birth

Sometimes it is necessary to deliver the baby surgically through an abdominal incision because the baby is in distress (weak heartbeat), labor has stopped, or the placenta is too near or covers the opening of the uterus. This is an emergency Cesarean or C-section. 

Non-emergency C-sections are also called for if you delivered via Cesarean section with a previous pregnancy or we have determined that the baby is “breech,” or positioned so that he or she will be born feet-first or buttocks-first, instead of head-first.

Vaginal Birth After Cesarean

Vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC) is where a woman tries to have her next baby through vaginal birth. This birthing option is not for everyone but it gives women another choice in their birthing experience. We recommend talking to your CHRISTUS physician to find out if this could be an option for you. 

A mother and her newborn baby having skin to skin contactSkin-to-Skin Contact

We take a loving approach to maternity care. In our family-centered environment, mothers and newborns can stay together in the same room. It's that kind of warm setting that gently encourages our new families to bond with their babies. 

We recommend skin-to-skin contact in which parents, their newborn and a significant other spend time getting to know each other. Ideally, early skin-to-skin contact begins within the first hour after birth while the baby is wearing only a diaper and placed on the mother’s bare chest. The benefits include: 

  • Calms and relaxes mother and baby
  • Stimulates baby’s digestion and regulates baby’s temperature and breathing
  • Provides newborn with added protection against infection
  • Stimulates the release of hormones to support breastfeeding and mothering

Once labor, delivery and recovery are complete, we escort you to a comfortable home-like private room located within the Mother-Baby Unit.

OB Hospitalist Available

Our OB hospitalist focuses on providing consistent care to patients in the hospital, as well as emergent care to those arriving. Your physician will make sure the OB hospitalist on-site has your complete medical records. The OB hospitalist caring for you in your doctor’s absence will deliver a complete treatment report to your doctor so your continued treatment is thorough and consistent. The OB hospitalist program is a key component in elevating the standard of women’s health care and increasing patient safety and satisfaction of women, newborns and their families.

OB Physician Availability

  • Board-certified OB hospitalists are immediately available onsite 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
  • In the event that your physician is not available, OB hospitalists can examine you, evaluate the progress of your labor, review test results and fetal heart rate tracings. They will address any evolving issues and provide you and your baby with safe delivery.
  • Due to their primary focus on hospital-based treatment, hospitalists are experts at providing emergency care and are on-site if an emergency occurs.

Related Doctors