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Maternity Services at Bethesda North Hospital
Bethesda North Hospital, with more than 4,000 deliveries each year, is the leading provider of maternity services in Cincinnati's northern corridor, and the sixth largest in the state of Ohio.
At Bethesda North, our compassionate, experienced nurses provide personalized care that supports you throughout your hospital stay. We offer services for mothers with special needs, such as our Perinatal Center and Level II Special Care Nursery, if higher levels of care are required. And the Bethesda Center for Reproductive Health and Fertility is a leader in Greater Cincinnati in treating couples with fertility problems.
But you don't have to take our word for it. Listen to what our patients have to say about the care they received at Bethesda North Hospital.
Learn more about:
Labor and Delivery
At Bethesda North Hospital, we understand how special the birth of your baby is to you and have designed our labor and delivery care with that in mind.
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Comfortable Labor/Delivery/Recovery Suites
Our 12 spacious labor/delivery/recovery suites feel more like home than a hospital. Here, our healing environment combines soft colors and natural finishes with state-of-the-art birthing equipment to provide you and your baby the safest birth possible. These private rooms also include sleeper seating for guests eagerly awaiting the birth of your baby.
Your Labor and Delivery Options
Each woman's needs and expectations of labor and delivery are unique. We personalize your birth experience by listening to what you want and finding out what you need.
Because we personalize our care to your needs, we offer several options for pain relief during labor, including many that do not involve medication. You can use these in combination with one another, or at different points during your labor. It's completely up to you and your doctor or midwife. Your care coordinator, your doctor or your midwife can tell you more about these options.
- Unmedicated labor - Coping techniques such as massage, water therapy (showers), breathing and relaxation techniques, and music are available for women who choose unmedicated labor. It is best to attend a childbirth preparation class to obtain the most up-to-date information. These classes prepare the woman and her partner for varied labor experiences and offer ideas for comfort and support, including effective methods to relieve labor pain or to use during unmedicated labor or early labor.
- Aromatherapy - Aromatherapy machines are available in the Labor and Delivery rooms as well as in the postpartum rooms. Soothing nature sounds are an option on the aromatherapy machines.
- Music - CD players are available in both your Labor and Delivery room and postpartum room. You are welcome to bring any relaxing music that you wish to listen to during your stay.
- Environment - It is recommended that you keep your Labor and Delivery room darkened and the noise level low. Your hospital TV has a relaxation channel (channel 12) you may want to use.
- Massage - Gentle touch and relaxation massage of various forms convey pain reduction messages, depending on the quality and circumstances of the touch (i.e., patting, stroking, holding a hand or a more formal purposeful massage technique). Classes and professional services are offered through the TriHealth Integrative Health and Medicine Center. Learn more about massage services >
- Hydrotherapy - Hydrotherapy enhances relaxation and promotes comfort and pain relief by immersing the labor patient into warm water. Eligibility for hydrotherapy is determined by your physician or midwife. The benefits include enhanced satisfaction through increased sense of empowerment, greater control of the birthing process, and relaxation to promote comfort and pain control with the goal of minimal medical intervention.
- Doulas - A trained birth attendant, known as a Doula, provides nonmedical labor support. Doulas can meet with the patient prenatally or accompany women and/or couples in labor to provide emotional and physical support. They may also do a postpartum visit at home to help smooth the transition for the new or expanding family. Contact your nurse care coordinator for more information about Doulas.
- Birthing ball - Positioning with the birthing ball helps relieve backache, allows for pelvic rocking and encourages the baby to descend into the pelvis. The mother remains sitting in an upright posture, taking advantage of gravity and encouraging pelvic relaxation.
- Laboring positions - Mothers can labor when sitting in rocking chairs or on the birthing ball, or by walking, tailor sitting, or with pillows for a side lying position.
- Hot and cold therapy - During hot therapy, the use of a warm shower, blanket or a heat pack is known for soothing, pain-relieving effects. Application of cold may offer more relief for acute back pain as the numbing effect decreases sensation and awareness of pain.
- Pushing positions - A relaxed perineum and tilted pelvis allows baby’s head to descend more easily. Pushing positions include assuming a 45 degree sitting position, foot pedals on bed, side-lying, on hands and knees, squatting with the use of a birthing or labor support person, or keeping the back rounded in a “C” position.
- Epidural block - The epidural block commonly is used for both vaginal and cesarean deliveries because of the comfort it provides and because it is safe and relatively easy to administer. It is administered through a tiny tube inserted in the lower back. The insertion area is numbed before the block is administered, and pain relief occurs within 10 to 20 minutes. Epidural blocks are used to numb the body from about the waist down. They allow mothers to rest during the most strenuous part of labor (while their cervix is dilating) and enable them to push during later stages of labor.
- Local anesthesia - Local anesthesia deadens pain in a small area only. Medication may be administered in the vaginal or rectal areas to numb the pain of an episiotomy incision or vaginal tearing and decrease the sensations of birth.
Besides your options for pain relief, you will have other choices to make -- in consultation with your doctor or midwife -- for your birth experience. You can choose who you want in the room with you during labor and delivery, including siblings as young as 5 years old (Classes and an adult chaperone other than your labor partner are required for children attending the delivery.). You can decide who will cut the umbilical cord and when you can begin breastfeeding if it is right for you. You also may choose to have your baby room in with you.
Postpartum Stay
The personalized care you receive in Labor and Delivery continues after you recover and even when you return home.
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Family-Centered Rooms
After you recover, you'll be moved to one of our 35 postpartum rooms. These home-like rooms are a comfortable place to spend the next day or two. Since this is a time to learn more about caring for your baby -- especially important for first-time moms -- you can keep your baby in the postpartum room with you as much as you want. We also have flexible visiting hours and in-room convertable furniture so that your family can be with you during this special and exciting time.
Expert Care for You and Baby
Our staff takes every precaution to ensure the safety and security of you and your baby. The nurse who cares for you during your postpartum stay is also your baby's nurse. She is available to help you learn more about feeding, bathing and other care your baby will need. Once you return home, if your insurance covers a home visit, a nurse will come to your home to answer your questions and make sure you and your baby are getting off to a healthy start together. And our Women's HealthLine is a great resource for any questions you may need answered. Call us any time at (513) 475-4500.
Specialized Services
One of the reasons so many patients choose Bethesda North is because they know that they can feel confident that we are equipped to manage pregnancies and deliveries that require special care.
Perinatal Center
Bethesda North Hospital's Perinatal Center provides complete prenatal testing support, such as ultrasounds, biophysical profiles and amniocentesis.
Learn more about the Perinatal Center >
Special Care Nursery
The Level II Special Care Nursery at Bethesda North Hospital provides care for all but the most critically ill infants. Experienced nurses and the same Children's Hospital Medical Center physicians who staff the Good Samaritan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit provide care for pre-term, low-birthweight, or ill infants.
Learn more about the Special Care Nursery >
The Bethesda Center for Reproductive Health and Fertility
Whether your infertility is basic or complex, the Bethesda Center for Reproductive Health and Fertility can provide you a variety of infertility treatment options tailored to meet your individual needs. Patient-focused care includes a unique assessment of the woman’s reproductive potential via ovarian reserve screening, which helps identify a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant.
Learn more about the Bethesda Center for Reproductive Health and Fertility >
Sign Up for a Tour
We’d like to invite you to see what makes Bethesda North Hospital so special. To register for our Maternity Orientation and Tour, register online or call the TriHealth Women's HealthLine at (513) 475-4500.
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