Birthing Your Baby at Northfield Hospital

One of the best hospitals to labor and deliver your baby is Northfield Hospital. Located in southern metro area of the Twin Cities.  This wonderful hospital is located in Northfield. From parking your car to being taken to your labor room you are treated as if you are the only person in their hospital.  Early registration on line makes it possible to transfer from your home to the labor room smoothly and in comfort. The nursing staff are concerned about you getting comfortable before they start the question and answer game. They take your birth plan in consideration and they try to follow everything possible on it and make sure both you and your baby are safe.

  

           

Northfield Hospital is located outside of the City of Northfield, and is tucked in between Hwy 3 and 35W. It sits by itself among country life.  When you pull into the parking lot you know exactly where you need to go. Parking is free so there is no need to worry about parking fees and how much they would cost you. Once you are inside the hospital the birth center is easy to find.

Once your baby is born you are transferred to your room with your baby, family is encouraged to be with you if you are comfortable with it. You can choose a regular room or you can choose a room with a double bed so your partner can stay close thought out your stay. The bathroom is clean and big enough for more than one person. Each bathroom has a whirlpool bath tub.Because you may be the only one in the birth center you have a nurse for every need you may have. The nurses are kind and considerate to your needs. Each nurse is trained in lactation support.

Once you are discharged, there is a class called Talk Time for mothers with their babies from newborn and up to 12 weeks.  Mothers are encouraged to attend, and bring their newborn. They weight the baby and discuss topics about attachment parenting, lactation concerns, sleeping and many more topics are available. The class meets every Monday at the hospital starting at 10:30 am and ends at 12:00.

There is a women’s clinic attached to the hospital and many women come to the clinic for their prenatal appointments, birth their baby at the hospital and return to the clinic for pediatric appointments for their newborns.

The hospital offers birth and breastfeeding classes, they also offer an online class for those that cannot attend the hospital class.

Women who want both great care and the ability to follow their birth plan, please stop at the Northfield Hospital for a visit.

Birth Center

https://www.northfieldhospital.org/birth-center

OB/GYN

https://www.northfieldhospital.org/womens-health-obgyn

Baby Talk Support Group

https://www.northfieldhospital.org/baby-talk

Childbirth Classes

https://www.northfieldhospital.org/childbirth-education-classes

I'm dilated When Will My Baby Be  Born

By Robin Elise Weiss, PhD - Reviewed by a board-certified physician.

Updated January 24, 2016

One of the questions I'm often asked about late pregnancy is about dilation, the opening of the cervix. People ask me questions like: "What does it mean that I'm 1 cm dilated at 36 weeks?"

What does it mean to be dilated?

Being dilated means that your cervix has started to open in preparation for the birth of your baby. Your cervix must go from not dilated to 10 centimeters dilated before your baby can be born.

While many of us this of this as a process of labor, many women will be dilated, even if just slightly, prior to the beginning of labor.

Effacement or being effaced is about the thinness of your cervix. During your pregnancy your cervix is roughly three-five centimeters long. Effacement is a measure of how thin it is and is measured in percentages. So a cervix that is not effaced is 0%, half effaced is 50% and completely effaced is 100% effaced.

How do I know if I'm dilated?

Being dilated in late pregnancy is something that you would find out in a vaginal exam. Many women will have a vaginal exam between the 35th and 37th weeks of pregnancy as a part of the group B strep (GBS) screening. Your midwife or doctor might casually tell you that you are a bit dilated and/or effaced.

"I was really excited that my doctor told me I was already starting to dilate," laughs Clare. "I was talking on the phone to my mother when the nurse overheard me telling her how excited I was, sure that meant the baby would be here soon.

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I was 38 weeks pregnant after all! The nurse laughed and told me it could be tonight, or in a month. I went all the way to just over 41 weeks, being a bit more dilated every week. It was total hype. I'm not finding out next time."

What does it matter if I am dilated before labor?

The big question that you may have about being dilated is whether or not that means that your baby is likely to be born soon.

While being dilated is certainly a positive step towards labor, in and of itself it is not a sign of labor or even that labor is coming in a certain amount of time. In the absence of contractions, being dilated is just preparing for labor.

Think about it this way, if you are 36 weeks pregnant and your practitioner finds that your cervix is 1 centimeter dilated - that means your cervix is open the width of approximately a Cheerio. This does not mean that your baby's birth is impending, but it is one less centimeter than you have to do in labor.

Ashley remembers how crestfallen she felt when her doctor sent her home saying he'd see her next week, "I wasn't dilated or anything. I was starting to feel like I'd never have the baby. I was resigning the fact I'd probably have to be induced. I'll admit to crying when I told my husband over lunch that I was never going to have this baby. He didn't know what to think. But, you can imagine our surprise when we were holding our precious baby boy just before midnight that very night. I got to the hospital around 8 p.m. and I was already seven centimeters dilated!"

So sit back and relax as much as you can while you wait for the real signs of labor.

_{Source:
The Labor Progress Handbook. Simkin, P and Ancheta, R. Wiley-Blackwell; 2 edition.}

Secret Life of a Doula on Call

Secret Life of a Doula on Call

Two weeks before my clients EDD and two weeks after the EDD I am on call. Being on call means that I need to be ready go to the birth ASAP. Being on call is the hardest thing about being a birth doula, yet it is also the best thing about being a doula. Waiting for baby is an exciting time for me. I have spent time with the couple got to know them and became connected with them at their prenatal visits, I have given them information and resources and now it’s time for baby to come. I can watch them. Every day I wonder if today is going to be the day and every night before I go to bed I wonder if I will get the call tonight.

It’s important for me to make sure that the car is full of gas at all times. I cannot make any plans that takes me far from home. I stay close to home in those weeks in order to get to the client in a timely manner. I try not to schedule appointments for myself during this time. When I am at an appointment I do turn the volume down, however I look at my phone constantly to make sure I didn’t miss the call. It’s also important that I keep my phone fully charged.  My mind set is on the birth of a baby. That comes before anything else going on in my life.

When I am on call I have my doula bag packed and ready to go. Every time I get into my car the bag goes with me, just in case. Sometimes I put it in the trunk of my car and it stays there until I’m on my way to the birth.  I also have a smaller bag that I keep by my purse in it I have snacks and the water that I may need during the birth. If there is a family event to attend, I drive my car and my husband will drive his, just in case. My family knows that if I’m not at a birthday party or if I miss a Holiday, I’m at a birth.

Once when I was assisting a midwife we received a call that the mother was in early labor. Her home was 50 miles away from my home. I was ready to go, I got into my car and started the trip. I was going through a town that I was familiar with (so I thought). I took the short cut in which in a few minutes I became unfamiliar with my surroundings. I was lost. Well, I thought, it’s her first baby so labor will go on for a time. The midwife started sending me texts “WHERE ARE YOU”. One of my rules I have is not to text when I’m driving. I couldn’t pull over because that would take time. Eventually I found my way to the freeway I needed to be on. When I was around 8 miles from my exit low and behold my phone’s GPS froze up and before I knew it I was 10 miles past my exit. I exited the freeway, turned around to get back on the freeway going the right direction. Again getting a text “WHERE ARE YOU”. Finally I pulled in the client’s driveway, I ran into the house (as quietly as I could). I went upstairs where the mother was laboring and there she was sitting on the bed holding her baby. Needless to say the midwife was very upset with me. She stayed professional and didn’t say anything right then, but she gave the look that I knew I was in trouble. I learned a very good lesson that night. I stay on the freeway now, I don’t take short cuts anymore, and I bought a new phone with voice texting.

It’s very important for every doula to have a backup doula. This is a doula that can attend the client’s birth when I cannot attend. This has never happened, however, I do have a backup doula, just in case. Before hiring my back up doula I made sure that she has the same philosophy of birth as I do. It’s very important that the expectant couple to get the same support as I would have given them. At the first prenatal appointment I have a confidentiality form that I have them sign so that I can give the backup doula information she needs to know to give the couple the respect they need and want. I give them her website address and go over her credentials with them. I tell them a little about her and ask if they would like to meet her. It’s a good idea to make sure she will be the right fit for them.

 After the first prenatal I call my backup and let her know the EDD and if it works for her. As it gets close to the birth and I think I may not be able to attend I give the backup doula only information that is needed for her to support the couple and the information to keep her safe. I have a close relationship with my backup. I trust her to keep things I’ve told her confidential. Like I said, I have never needed to use my backup doula, however it is nice to have her and to know that my clients will get the best care from her.