Melanie Cole, MS (Host): Are you thinking about delivering your baby at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital? Well, we are here to walk you through what to expect from the moment you arrive in labor and delivery to the time you head home with your newborn baby. Whether you're a first time parent or adding to your family, we're going to help you to feel informed, empowered, and ready for your birth experience at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.

Welcome to It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. I'm Melanie Cole, and joining us today is Sarah Hendrickson. She's a Charge Nurse in the Center for Women and Newborns at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital and she teaches the hospital's Labor of Love childbirth classes. Sarah, thank you so much for joining us today.

So, you and I were talking off the air and I just loved my birth experience. I just found them wonderful for each of my children. I loved every second of it, really. I did. Because it was such an exciting and scary and exhilarating time. Right. So I'd like you to start by telling parents what to expect when they arrive at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in labor.

Walk us through the admission process, triage, first steps, but before you do that, this is a big ask, tell us a little bit about anything they should be doing before they get there that day.

Sarah Hendrickson, RN: Thank you so much for having me today. First, I am so happy you had a wonderful birth experience. That's always the goal for everyone. I try to, when I train new nurses, remind them that we might be here every day, but for each family, this is one of the most memorable days of their lives. So we need to do what we can to make it wonderful for them. So what can they do to prepare prior to the arrival of their baby? I say to educate themselves as much as possible. I'm biased, but I teach an amazing childbirth class here at Henry Mayo called Labor of Love. And we cover everything, what to expect, pregnancy complications, what the labor process is like, and what to expect in the postpartum period.

It's a really comprehensive class and we have a lot of fun. I try to make it fun. We play games, we have prizes. It's a really great time. So I encourage everyone to get educated. Have conversations with their providers about things that they want in their birth ahead of time. Those are the two big things.

Education and communication with your provider ahead of time to prepare. You can also get pre-registered on the hospital's website. They can do that. I recommend doing it after around 28 weeks and beyond. So that will make the check-in process smoother when they get here. As far as checking in at the hospital, I tell everyone if it's the daytime, you're going to check in just at the front entrance.

You just tell them you are here for labor and delivery, and they will send you right to us and you'll register on our labor and delivery unit. If it's nighttime after 8:00 PM you have to go through the emergency room. Sometimes that can seem scary for new parents, but I always say, don't worry, the emergency room is going to take one look at that cute little pregnant belly and they are going to send you straight to us anyway. So you just tell them you're here to check in for labor and delivery and they'll send you right to us. We will put you in a room and you'll get assessed by the nurse to see if you are going to stay or we're going to send you home or where we're going to go from there.

Host: Well, that is just such an exciting time and thank you for that information. And what makes labor and delivery experience at Henry Mayo so unique? Tell us about that personalized care and your staff and the expertise, which makes really puts couples at ease and makes what could be a nervous experience, just all that much better.

Sarah Hendrickson, RN: I will say that we have the best staff at our hospital. I have worked other places and nothing compares to the staff on our labor and delivery and postpartum units, really top notch. They really care. They're very passionate and they go above and beyond for their patients all the time. And I am just in awe of all of these people that I get to work with.

Because they're fantastic. And if mom brings a birth plan, we'll go over it with you. We'll talk through everything. Whatever questions you have, they can answer for you, they can bring you all kinds of things to make your labor more comfortable. At our hospital, we have birthing balls for moms who want more movement. We have squat bars.

We have peanut balls for moms when they get an epidural to help, keep their hips open and keep baby moving down. We have wireless monitoring, so these are all ways that the nurse can personalize the care. We also have these cool little patches that we can put on their gown that are essential oils, you know, help calming for moms that are in labor.

Host: Isn't that lovely? And that's really what it's supposed to be, is a lovely experience. Now tell us a little bit about some of the team. I mean, you're a charge nurse. Can you tell our listeners what that really means to be a charge nurse? And then tell us a little, you mentioned an epidural, so tell us about the anesthesiologists and what all goes into that more technical part of the labor and delivery.

Sarah Hendrickson, RN: Yeah. So I'm the charge nurse in charge of all of the labor and delivery and postpartum units. So I'm overseeing everything. So we watch babies' heart monitors throughout the day, to make sure babies are doing well. And so my job is to watch all of the babies on the monitors, make sure they're doing okay, to assist when things aren't going well, to coordinate care when we need epidurals, when we need to go for a C-section.

So that's what I do. We have on our team, we have nurses. Most of the time our nurses are one-to-one with their patients. You really get that personalized care. We try our best, unless we're really busy to keep our patients one-to-one in labor and delivery. We have OB techs and they assist in the OR, they assist with instruments, setting up for our delivery tables.

We have a one-to-one nurse for baby for the first two hours after baby's born. So, mom will have a nurse, and baby will have a nurse for those first two hours. And then we have our OBs obviously who do the deliveries. And then we have our anesthesiologists, we call them our drug dealers because they come in and they make moms very happy.

Host: Speaking of anesthesiology, tell us a little bit about pain management options. Some women want an epidural, some don't. I was an epidural girl. I must admit it. I

Sarah Hendrickson, RN: I was not.

Host: Oh wow. Bless your because I just was, I was not really ready for that. But there are ways to prepare if you are someone who doesn't want that, but speak about those pain management options, including non-medication options.

Sarah Hendrickson, RN: For moms who want to go unmedicated, I always encourage them to get education ahead of time. Maybe even look into hiring a doula, which is a woman who is there just to exclusively support mom throughout labor. But your nurses will help you. I love helping patients using massage techniques, coaching them through the contractions.

And even sometimes I'll try to teach the partners who are in the room with mom, how to coach mom and how to help mom. Um, so we kind rally around her if she wants an unmedicated experience. And of course if she wants an epidural, we have a fantastic anesthesiology team. They're on call for us 24 hours a day, so as soon as you call for an epidural, they're usually there within 30 minutes, they'll be there.

They'll get it placed. We'll get you comfy and we'll let you take a nap till it's time to have your baby. I often get asked too, if it's ever too late to get an epidural, and the answer is, unless the baby is coming out of you, it is not too late for an epidural. I've even given them to a mom at 10 centimeters.

She got her epidural. She took a nap. She woke up. We had a baby.

Host: That's so cool. Now you mentioned partners and how you will help teach them how to calm mom and get her ready for the experience. What about support for partners and families? What can they expect as far as visitation? Who's allowed to be in the room? Tell us a little bit about the semantics involved in that.

Sarah Hendrickson, RN: So the primary support person, a lot of times it's the dad, they don't actually count as the visitor, so they are not counted in our visitor total. So they just get 24 hour access to be in the room, whoever mom chooses to be her primary support person. And then beyond that person, there's two visitors allowed at a time.

They can swap out as much as they want. So that is a total of three visitors. In labor and delivery, we don't have visiting hours. It's 24 hours a day. Because as you know, babies kind of come when they come. So, we don't have visiting hours on labor and delivery. However, in postpartum it's 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Children are allowed to visit if they're over 16. But the siblings of the baby, they don't count as visitors either. So, new baby gets to meet their siblings in the hospital.

Host: That's one of the best parts, in my opinion.

Sarah Hendrickson, RN: Yes. I love seeing them walk through with their little big brother, big sister shirts. It just makes me so happy.

Host: It's so amazing. And when they see that little baby for the first time, and maybe they're two or three or four themselves and they just are so wide-eyed and the smiles, oh, I just love that part. Now what about the after the delivery time, because that's a little bit nerve wracking as well. Maybe the mother has some pain, whether she had a C-section or whether she had a vaginal birth. Tell us a little bit about the support involved in that postpartum time.

Sarah Hendrickson, RN: Yeah, so the first couple hours after delivery, again, like I said, it's gonna be one-to-one care, so there's a nurse for mom and a nurse for baby. So everyone's getting really quality care because your nurse can really help with anything that's going on in those immediate postpartum period. So the nurse for mom is going to be managing her pain, helping manage her bleeding, getting her medications, getting her juice, getting her up to the bathroom, all of those kinds of things.

And the baby nurse in those first two hours is going to be responsible for helping with breastfeeding, getting baby latched on, making sure baby's vital signs are good, notifying your pediatrician that the baby is here and doing footprints and, just helping mom with whatever is needed for baby in those first two hours.

She'll also give two medications to baby, erythromycin eye ointment. That helps prevent newborn pink eye and a Vitamin K shot, which helps with blood clotting for babies.

Host: How long typically do mom and baby, and this is assuming that everything is really great and going well. How long do they stay in the hospital?

Sarah Hendrickson, RN: If it's a vaginal delivery and everything went well, 24 hours. I often counsel parents if they're choosing circumcision, that it might delay their discharge a little bit, just because adding that on takes a little more time. But if everything's healthy and everyone's doing great, 24 hours for a vaginal delivery, to 48 hours. And then for a C-section, it is, if everything went well, it's probably two days, up to four days, if there's complications, they'll keep you a little bit longer.

Host: What a great episode this is. You're giving us so much to think about and it's so joyful. Now, I don't want to get gross for the listeners, but there are things that we women go through when we've had a baby. And so I'd like you to kind of wrap up. I'd love you to tell us a little bit more about the Labor of Love classes, what to pack for the hospital, but also

what you want moms to know about self-care because we're constipated, we are throwing clots. Maybe we want to get back to exercise pretty quick, and then all of a sudden we're like, Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have done that because, well, that's what I did, but. You know, there are all of these things, but you are there to help us and say, okay, go take Colace or go do this or that.

So I'd like you to wrap it up for us and really give your best advice. Tell us about what to pack and what you do to help parents so beautifully at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.

Sarah Hendrickson, RN: First, I will give another plug for Labor of Love, our classes, we go into great detail about postpartum and what it's like. We talk all about what to pack in your bag and I am a huge advocate for self-care after having a baby. I battled postpartum depression with my youngest daughter, pretty badly for a long time, and I share my story of overcoming that postpartum depression.

So I encourage anyone to sign up for Labor of Love. As far as a hospital bag, what I would recommend, comfy clothes for after delivery, comfortable little sandals because your feet are going to be like little sausages before you go home. You don't have to bring any medication, you don't have to bring any pads or underwear.

We have disposable underwear and you're going to want it after baby. We have all the medications that you'll need. We have diapers, wipes, baby shampoo, all of that. Everything you could need for baby, we have. I just say to pack maybe a cute coming home outfit so you can get that picture on the way out of the hospital, and a cute little blanket for baby for the way out of the hospital. But otherwise we want baby skin to skin with mom. So they don't really need clothes or anything at the hospital. We just want them close with mom. And as far as my advice for moms who are expecting going forward, I always say, get off the internet.

Get off the internet. There's a lot of really bad advice out there, and really just give yourself grace. I say, I tell this in my class. You grew a human inside your body for nine months and then you moved that human being through your body or had them cut out of your body and now you are responsible for feeding that human with your body.

That is a lot for one person to go through. And give yourself grace. Talk to yourself like you would talk to your best friend. If she were struggling, you would say, you're doing a great job. And that's what I would say to you too.

Host: Isn't that wonderful? I can just hear that compassion that you have and the passion for what you do for a living, which is just wonderful. Anyway, thank you again. And you're so right. The self-care is so, so important. We do have to take care of ourselves because if we don't, we can't take care of that new little wonderful bundle that we're about to bring home. Because life does change after you do that. Thank you so much Sarah for joining us today.

Sarah Hendrickson, RN: Yes. Thank you.

Host: To sign up for the Labor of Love classes, please search henrymayo.com/classes and search for Labor of Love for more information and to get connected with one of our providers. That concludes this episode of It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. I'm Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for joining us today.