Exciting News for Expectant Parents in Jacksonville
Exciting news for expectant parents in Jacksonville leaves more money in the budget for help when they bring their newborns home! In the Greater Jacksonville area we're very fortunate to have so many choices for birth. Then parent's come home and exhaustion and isolation set in. Shit gets real! Cue your Postpartum & Infant Doula!
Last night's meeting at UF Health North was exciting! Jennifer Bettis, a registered nurse at UF Health North Hospital's Labor & Delivery Department organized and hosted an amazing meet and greet.
First Coast Doulas met with the nurses, obstetricians, and midwives over at the labor and delivery unit located on Jacksonville's Northside. We collaborated about care for families in our community and toured the facility.
I could write an entire blog series on the differences between hospitals, homebirths, and birth center births, but that is something we can cover in a private one on one birth consult!
Here's the skinny on what we loved about last night's meeting. And of course we're working our way up to the most exciting news for expectant parents in Jacksonville!
For parents with a low risk healthy pregnancies UF Health North Hospital is definitely a place to schedule a tour! There are twelve spacious rooms all complete with large showers with removable showerheads and magical tubs. Music, flameless candles, essential oil diffusers, squat bars, birth balls, and peanut balls are also available. The birthing person and their baby aren't separated unless medically necessary or by parent request.
Stay with us till the end because it just keeps getting better!
We were assured that patients are given the choice to move about freely and birth in any position they are comfortable in. In addition there's no pressure for circumcision. But if your baby boy is having the procedure done it can be done onsite right in the labor and delivery unit. Wireless monitoring is available for many patients and options for pain relief include narcotics like Stadol, spinal block or epidural, and Nitrous Oxide. They're also supportive of those who meet certain criteria and want a trial of labor after a cesarean (TOLAC) and even some twin vaginal births.
There is an operating room (OR) on site for necessary cesareans!
Clear drapes and gentle cesarean are an option when general anesthesia isn't used. The birthing person is allowed a birth partner and even a photographer in the room when awake. Mom and baby stay together; baby even rides on mom's chest to the postpartum recovery room!
Those are amazing things!!
Without further ado we've saved the best for last!
As more people are learning about the support of Birth Doulas and Postpartum & Infant Doulas some decide they don't want an addition person there for the birth. Others have to decide between spending money for the 8-24 hours that labor and birth can last, a great childbirth education class, or spend it on support when they come home!
Not anymore!
Now expectant parents can plan for a supported birth AND enjoy all the things when they come home too! More sleep, hands on help, accurate breast and bottle feeding advice, yummy snacks, meal prep, emotional support, and companionship! Did I mention more sleep?!
Every person who oversees your care at UF Health North Hospital has taken a Birth Doula training. This means parents birthing at UF North Hospital get great medical care and built in birth doula support comes standard. This is exciting news for expectant parents in Jacksonville! It's especially exciting for those who want to be prepared for what life will be like after they give birth and bring their babies home! Not sure what a Postpartum & Infant Doula does? There’s noone better to explain this to you than Jacksonville's only Postpartum & Infant Doula agency; First Coast Doulas!
Get in touch and we'll schedule up a time to speak with you and your partner by phone!