As an expectant mother, you want the very best medical care to ensure that your baby is born healthy and that you stay strong enough to care for your newborn. At Newman Regional Health we offer private rooms, the ideal setting during your special and very intimate time.

When you choose the Women’s Life Center at NRH, you’re choosing to give birth in a compassionate and comfortable environment. Our team of the most dedicated providers, certified nurse midwife, and nurses work together to deliver quality, attentive care for you and your baby.

More than 40,000 babies have been brought into the world at Newman Regional Health’s Women’s Life Center. That’s more than 400 miracles of life each year! The Women’s Life Center features the LDR concept, where labor, delivery, and recovery all occur in private home-like birthing rooms.

Today, more than ever, the focus at Newman Regional Health is on the family. Birth is a very personal experience. The Women’s Life Center is designed to allow families the freedom to choose the birth experience most meaningful to them.

Parents enjoy the closeness and tremendous family bonding that occur during the earliest moments of life. After delivery, the nursing staff closely observes the mother and baby should complications arise. A lactation consultant is available for breastfeeding mothers who need assistance after delivery.

Epidural Anesthesia for Labor

Epidural analgesia, sometimes called an epidural block, causes some loss of feeling in the lower areas of your body, yet you remain awake and alert. An epidural block may be given soon after your contractions start, or later as your labor progresses. An epidural block is given in the lower back into a small area (the epidural space) outside the spinal cord. You will be asked to sit with your back curved outward and to stay this way until the procedure is completed.

After the epidural needle is placed, a small tube (catheter) is inserted through it, and the needle is withdrawn. A continuous dose of medication can then be given through the tubing continuously and you will be given a button to self-administer extra doses. It is fine to lie on the catheter. It is soft and flexible. Although an epidural block will make you more comfortable, you still may be aware of your contractions. You can move when it is done, but you will not be allowed to walk around.

An epidural block with more or stronger medications can be used for a Cesarean delivery. In a sense the epidural can provide a margin of safety since the epidural can be “strengthened” quickly and safely in the setting of an unplanned Cesarean delivery. Patients with indwelling epidural catheters rarely require general anesthesia for their Cesarean section.

Out of all the options for pain control, epidurals provide the best and most reliable level of pain relief and patient satisfaction.

Anesthesia for Elective Cesarean Section

Cesarean births require anesthesia – either via an epidural, a combined spinal/epidural, or rarely, a general anesthetic. Your anesthesia provider will discuss the options available to you and remain with you throughout the surgery.