Epidurals:
The Cottage Birthing Center is the only Knox county hospital to offer epidurals during labor. Epidurals provide great pain relief and allow the Mother and her family to enjoy the birthing process, without all the discomfort. Epidurals at Cottage are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Most women experience significant pain during labor and birth, and most American women want and expect to receive some form of pharmacologic pain relief. Epidurals are the most effective method.
An epidural obliterates most all of the labor pain for some women, without the negative effects on the newborn that IV or IM narcotics provide. More than 90% of women receive significant pain relief; most become free of all or almost all of their pain. This allows the woman to maintain a sense of self-control, avoid panic, and think and converse as usual. Many women relax and enjoy labor after their pain disappears.
The Birthing Center:
The Cottage Birthing Center is located on the fifth floor of Cottage Hospital. The Cottage Birthing Center provides 6 spacious, homelike Labor Delivery Recovery and Postpartum (LDRP) suites to accommodate the birthing experience.
The Birthing Center is a secured unit with locked doors located on both ends of the hallway. The doors are continuously locked to ensure the safety of our newborns.
Mom's-to-be will be cared for in private rooms, equipped with fetal monitoring systems which have the capacity to change into telemetry monitors to allowing the birthing mother to walk around or to even soak in a tub or take a shower. Each suite has its own private bathroom with a tub and/or shower, a cd player, television, and mini-fridge.
L ► LABOR Mom's-to-be will be cared for in private rooms, equipped with state of the art fetal monitoring systems. The fetal monitors have the capacity to change into telemetry monitors to allow the woman to walk around or soak in the tubs or showers. Each suite has its own private bathroom with a tub and/or shower, a CD player, television, and mini-fridge.
D ► DELIVERY Delivery of the new baby occurs in the same room. Infant warming beds are added to the room for thermoregulation of the infant following delivery.
R ► RECOVERY Immediately following the delivery, the mother and infant are stabilized for 1-2 hours. During this time, the family can begin to bond with their newborn.
P ► POSTPARTUM The mother will stay in this room until discharge. Infants can room-in or be taken care of in the nursery so the mother can rest. The rooms are equipped with fold-out beds for Dad or another support person.
The Birthing Center also features an operative suite and recovery room for C-Section deliveries and operative vaginal deliveries.
Four large private rooms are available for post-surgical deliveries. These rooms are equipped with a private bathroom and shower.
24 hour nursery: The Level 2 nursery is staffed with a registered nurse at all times. Newborns can room-in or be taken care of in the nursery to allow for Mom's rest.
Cottage has a Certified Breastfeeding Consultant on staff to assist with breastfeeding. One-on-one instruction provided on positioning and proper latching techniques, to help promote a successful feeding regimen.
On-demand Menu: This new feature at Cottage lets the patient choose from more popular food choices.
Cross trained nurses: All nurses on the Obstetric Unit are trained in labor and delivery, postpartum, nursery, and surgical deliveries (c-section and recovery). The nurses are also ACLS and NRP certified
Childbirth Classes: Offered monthly and are free of charge.
Infant Massage class: Offered to help strengthen the bond between the parents and infant.
For more information on the Cottage Birthing Center, our epidural program, to sign up for one of our classes or to take a tour of our center, call 309-345-4211.