Welcome to the Ultimate Guide to Ascension St. Vincent’s! Are you having a baby or planning on having a baby in Birmingham? Did you know that Ascension St. Vincent’s Birmingham has a long history of recognition, including being named the “Best Hospital to Have a Baby,” “Best Birthing Suites,” “Favorite Hospital,” and the Most Wired list for Hospitals and Health Networks? In this guide, we hope to showcase what makes Ascension St. Vincent’s a great choice when having a baby…
Ascension St. Vincent’s was founded in 1898 and specializes in medical services including oncology, cardiology, women’s and children’s services, orthopedics/sports medicine, neurology, community/corporate wellness services, and surgical services. Ascension St. Vincent’s Birmingham has a long history of recognition, including being named the “Best Hospital to Have a Baby,” “Best Birthing Suites,” “Favorite Hospital,” and the Most Wired list for Hospitals and Health Networks.
Prenatal Care
During your pregnancy, Ascension St. Vincent’s offers so much to help you through your pregnancy journey and to prepare you for birth. A few things that makes Ascension St. Vincent’s prenatal care so special during pregnancy…
Monogram Maternity (see category below for more details)
Ascension St. Vincent’s offers many services tailor-made to expectant mothers through their Monogram Maternity program. Monogram Maternity includes in person, online, and virtual education, PLUS in person and virtual meetings with a personal Maternity Nurse Navigator and much more!
Monogram Maternity is the umbrella for outpatient services for obstetrics at Ascension St Vincent’s. These services are available to support you throughout your entire pregnancy. They offer Maternity Nurse Navigation, Childbirth and Family education from pregnancy through the first 1,000 days of life, Lactation services, Young Adult Pregnancy support, Medicaid enrollment/care management, Postpartum support, Perinatal Bereavement support, as well as being home to the Blessed Beginnings Boutique, where you may find items to support you in pregnancy as well as postpartum.
Read more about the nurses at Ascension St. Vincent’s in More Than a Mother :: Two Nurses’ Special Bond.
Maternity Nurse Navigator
Your Maternity Nurse Navigator is an experienced labor & delivery nurse who will provide individualized care for all expectant parents before and after pregnancy. This special nurse will help you navigate your pregnancy and postpartum period and answer any questions that you have. As your due date approaches, your personal Nurse Navigator will meet with you to let you know all of the options available to you during your labor, delivery, and postpartum period. You and your partner will spend time together identifying your wishes and dreams for your hospital experience that include things like: your preferences for labor and delivery that includes your feeding plan, your ideal nurse (quiet, talkative, encouraging, straight-forward, etc.), pain relief options, and more.
Your Birth Wishes are shared with your nurses when you come to the hospital so they are aware of what will make you have the best hospital experience that is unique for you!
During your navigation appointment, you can also pre-register for your hospital experience and complete all of the important paperwork that is normally done in the hospital. This lets you alleviate the stress out of the hospital experience and focus on bonding with your baby in those precious days after birth. . Once Birth Wishes are signed off by your physician, they are honored by the nurses, doctors, and staff during labor.
Birth Experience Suite
During your visit, your Maternity Nurse Navigators will walk you through the various birth aids available in our private birth experience suite. You and your family are welcome to reserve the Birth Experience Suite to spend some time getting comfortable using the birth aids and learning more about positioning that will help you throughout pregnancy and labor.
Tours
Become familiar with the location of the OBED, tour a birth suite, and feel more prepared for your labor and delivery. To take a tour with your Maternity Nurse Navigator, please call 205-212-6667.
Lactation Consults
Prenatal breastfeeding consults give you the opportunity to receive 1:1 education about what to expect in the early days of breastfeeding. A certified lactation consultant is available to spend time with you to go over unique questions and concerns and prepare you prior to giving birth. This consultation is done with no charge and may be done in-person, virtually, or by phone or at your maternity birth navigation appointment.
OBED (Maternity Emergency Care Center)
The OBED (Maternity Emergency Care Center) at Ascension St. Vincent’s Birmingham is available to ensure that expectant mother’s receive timely, specialized care without long wait times in a private setting designed for women. The team of Labor and Delivery Nurses and Board Certified Obstetricians are available 24/7 to provide care at any stage of pregnancy in a dedicated unit located on the 4th floor of the Women’s and Children’s Center. The OBED treats ladies who are pregnant and up to 6 weeks postpartum for conditions including severe nausea, vaginal bleeding, early contractions, labor checks and other concerns or complications that may arise.
Labor & Delivery
Labor and delivery nurses at Ascension St. Vincent’s are trained in the use of specialized labor support through completion of a Spinning Babies® Workshop. Active use of physiological labor management is the form of nursing care practiced with all laboring moms. A resource nurse with extra training is often available to round on moms in labor to ensure that you are using all positioning and birth aids that will provide you with a supportive labor and birth experience. Your nurse is working with only you during the time you are active laboring to ensure she is available to support you fully.
Ascension St. Vincent’s has 24/7 on-site anesthesia dedicated solely to maternity patients. Having an anesthesia team dedicated for maternity patients helps provide patients with timely pain relief at all hours. This is especially important in the event of an emergency when minutes can make a difference in outcomes.
An in-house, onsite, board-certified OB-GYN is available 24/7 to ensure that ladies in labor or who are experiencing complications can be seen immediately.
One of the many special things available at Ascension St. Vincent’s is the design and layout of the Women & Children’s Center. Maternity care is practiced using the single room maternity care model. This gives new moms the opportunity to receive all of their care in one room without moving throughout their hospital stay. This model of care is referred to as LDRP as new moms who give birth vaginally spend their time in labor in the same room that they have their delivery and recovery as well as their postpartum stay. New moms who have a cesarean section spend their postpartum stay on a unique floor in the Women & Children’s Center where the nurses specialize in the care of moms who are recovering from surgery in addition to birth.
Postnatal Care
Ascension St. Vincent’s provides classes, lactation services, and beyond to help mothers and families after the birth of their child.
Postpartum classes include…
Back-2-Work Breastfeeding Class:
This class is designed to help mom once breastfeeding has been established to help ease the transition back to work. Common challenges and solutions will be identified and discussed.
Babies Do Come with Instructions – Newborn Care Class:
Whether you are a first time parent, a parent needing a refresher, grandparent, caregiver or adopting, this class is for you. In this class you will learn all of the basic baby care you need to know before heading home with your newborn including basic infant care, care of a newborn, infant nutrition, signs and symptoms of illness, crying, bathing, safe sleep practices, basic car seat safety and more.
CPR for Family and Friends (Adults, Infants, and Child CPR):
This course is a classroom based, practice-while-you-watch video and instructor-facilitated program on how to perform the basic skills of CPR for adults, children, and infants. The course also teaches how to help an adult, child, or infant who is choking.
From Rookie to All-Star:
Learn with other fathers-to-be about infant care and behavior, signs of illness and infant health and safety. This class will address concerns about labor and delivery, dad’s role in breastfeeding, child proofing techniques, and much more.
Siblings: Little Helpers (ages 3-5) and Big Helpers (ages 6 and up):
This class is for children and at least one parent. Class topics include discussions and demonstrations about how to be a helper in caring for the new baby, creating a safe environment and behaving safely around the baby.
Grandparenting: Making it Grand:
This is a fun and interactive class for new and expectant grandparents. Class discussion will include a review of safety guidelines for home and car, and some do’s and don’ts for 21st century grandparenting.
Infant and Child Safety:
This class provides new parents practical information to help prepare you for your baby’s first months at home. You will learn vital information on caring for baby from the basics of swaddling and diapering to life saving skills including CPR, choking, and infant safety.
Super Sitters:
This 3-hour class for boys and girls ages 11 and above will help them become a Super Sitter. Topics include the responsibilities of childcare, loving care and discipline, developmental and age appropriate activities and interests, techniques in feeding, bathing and dressing, and safety.
For a full list of classes and to register, visit ascension.org/events.
After hospital discharge, 1-on-1 appointments with a board certified lactation consultants may be scheduled to customize solutions to breastfeeding issues (205-939-7538). Baby Cafe is also available and is a mom-to-mom breastfeeding group that is available Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday at various locations. Lactation consultants and baby scales are available at all locations.
Blessed Beginnings Boutique
Blessed Beginnings Boutique carries a variety of items, many not available locally, to support expectant and new moms. Some items include…
- Lactation Supplements as recommended by a Certified Lactation Consultant
- Lactation cookies & mixes
- Items provided in the hospital, like bulb syringes & pacifiers, that you may for when you need extras after you go home
- Stylish Hospital Gowns and Robes
- Maternity Clothes
- NICU Friendly Clothes
- Breast Pumps and Supplies
- Baby Gown Sets
- Hands-Free Pumping Bras, and More!
- Parking Passes
- Hospital grade breast pump rentals
- Watch a tour of the Blessed Beginnings Boutique HERE
The boutique also offers Halo Sleep Sacks and many preemie clothing options at cost in support of Ascension St. Vincent’s mission to care for the poor and vulnerable.
Hours: Monday – Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm | (205) 212-6667
Women and Children’s Building, 4th floor
Monogram Maternity
Ascension St. Vincent’s offers many services tailor-made to expectant mothers through their Monogram Maternity program. Monogram Maternity includes in person, online, and virtual education, PLUS in person and virtual meetings with a personal Maternity Nurse Navigator and much more!
Monogram Maternity is the umbrella for outpatient services for obstetrics at Ascension St Vincent’s. These services are available to support you throughout your entire pregnancy. They offer Maternity Nurse Navigation, Childbirth and Family education from pregnancy through the first 1,000 days of life, Lactation services, Young Adult Pregnancy support, Medicaid enrollment/care management, Postpartum support, Perinatal Bereavement support, as well as being home to the Blessed Beginnings Boutique, where you may find items to support you in pregnancy as well as postpartum.
Read more about the nurses at Ascension St. Vincent’s in More Than a Mother :: Two Nurses’ Special Bond.
Classes
From pre-conception through the first two years of life, St. Vincent’s offers a variety of perinatal classes for the whole family. Classes are offered in person, online, and virtually so that you can choose the class that works best with your busy lifestyle. Here is a list of classes offered by Ascension St Vincent’s…
- Spinning Babies® Parent Class : Spinning Babies is a balancing of the muscles and joints of the pelvis and back that will add comfort in pregnancy and ease in childbirth. Each technique plays a special role in supporting labor progress. Most labor & delivery nurses at Ascension St. Vincent’s have attended the Spinning Babies® Workshop to provide personalized care to new mothers. Ascension St. Vincent’s is home to the only hospital based Spinning Babies® Certified Parent Educators in the State of Alabama. These educators are available to provide private or group classes related to tools related to pregnancy and birth preparation.
- Your Best Birth : For first time parents and discusses the 3rd trimester, stages of labor, medical interventions, comfort techniques, birth, postpartum and newborn care.
- Your Better Birth Labor Refresher Class : For parents who have had a child but are in need of a refresher.
- Breastfeeding I : Geared towards first time moms to be. This class will help prepare you for the initiation of breastfeeding through the first few months, common problems, etc.
- Daddy 101, From Rookie to All Star : Initially led by an RN instructor and then is led by dads for dads to be. Dads only in this class.
- Grandparenting, Making It Grand : For grandparents to be and is a great resource in informing grandparents of all of the changes that have been made since they became parents.
- Infant and Child Safety : For all parents, caregivers, adoptive parents and grandparents. Provides practical information to help prepare you for your baby’s first months at home. Learn vital info on caring for baby from swaddling and diapering to life saving skills. Birth – 5.
- Baby it’s Covid Outside : This free session will let expectant families know all of the current practices at Ascension St. Vincent’s as they relate to COVID. It will also all them to ask questions in real time.
For a full list of classes and to register, visit ascension.org/events.
Breastfeeding Support
In addition to the breastfeeding classes you can attend during and after pregnancy, all mothers receive a visit from a lactation consultant during their hospital stay to ensure that breastfeeding gets off to a great start. After hospital discharge, 1-on-1 appointments with our board certified lactation consultants may be scheduled to customize solutions to breastfeeding issues (205-939-7538)
Baby Cafe : These mom-to-mom breastfeeding groups are available Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday at various locations. Lactation consultants and baby scales are available at all locations.
OBGYNs
Here is a list of OBGYN groups at Ascension St. Vincent’s Birmingham…
Birmingham Obstetrics & Gynecology
800 St. Vincent’s Drive
North Tower Suite 500
Birmingham, AL
205-933-8334
Henderson & Walton Women’s Center
806 St. Vincent’s Drive
Women & Children’s Center, Suite 500
Birmingham, AL
205-930-1800
OB GYN Associates of Alabama
800 St. Vincent’s Drive
North Tower Suite 600
Birmingham, AL
205-271-1600
Sharp & Stone OB/GYN
2700 10th Ave South
Building 2, Suite 306
Birmingham, AL
205-933-4020
Christ Health Center
Dr. Rebecca Newton
2152 Old Springville Road
Birmingham, AL
205-838-6000
