Have Your Baby Your Way

There’s only one way to have a baby at Ochsner – your way. All six of our Family Birthing Centers offer private, beautiful, comfortable maternity rooms that feel more like home than a hospital.

What’s more, at the Perkins Alternative Birthing Center (ABC) at Ochsner Baptist, we offer homey suites with comfortable queen-sized beds, a family room and even a shared kitchen. Each room in the ABC offers a birthing tub and birth stools.

And at the Family Birthing Center in Baton Rouge, two suites have birthing tubs, and the labor and delivery rooms are twice the size of normal hospital rooms to create the experience of home for mother and baby.

Whether you choose a natural birth, a water birth or a birth with the help of anesthesia, you’ll find your team is there for you. Ochsner obstetricians, nurse midwives, obstetric nurses and lactation specialists will do everything we can to make your birthing experience all that you hope it would be. That includes making sure your baby is with you 23 out of 24 hours of the day, and promoting Skin-to-Skin Care – even after a C-section. More than 400 studies since 1983 have confirmed that babies held skin to skin on their mother’s chest right after birth do better. You want only the best for your baby and that’s what you’ll get at Ochsner.

Choose Your Team

Depending on your situation and the kind of delivery you prefer, you might have a certified nurse midwife, a fellowship-trained obstetrician or a maternal fetal specialist at your side while giving birth.

Some moms-to-be love the idea of a certified nurse midwife – an expert in traditional vaginal birth who has a deep trust in women's bodies and the birth process. Nurse midwives encourage women and their families to actively participate in their healthcare by providing individualized education, counseling, pre-natal care, labor and delivery and postpartum support.

Or maybe you’ve always dreamed of having a baby the natural way, but feel more comfortable under the care of the obstetrician you’ve grown to know and trust over the past nine months. You’ll find Ochsner is home to some of the finest, most experienced OBs in the region. Our birthing rooms feature the most-innovative equipment available including wireless baby monitoring so you don’t have to stay confined to bed during labor.

Or if you can’t wait to experience motherhood but don’t feel required to experience the level of pain that goes with it, your team will include an obstetric-trained anesthesiologist. This is someone who specializes in one thing: Being there for women having babies. Another plus: Ochsner is the only hospital in Louisiana that offers moms the option of self-administered nitric oxide. This takes the edge off the pain but still allows mothers to experience the wonder of natural childbirth.

Along with the doctors, your team will include some of the smartest, warmest and most efficient obstetric nurses in the country. Many of our obstetric nurses have been honored by the 100 Great Nurses Foundation.

A lactation consultant will also be on your team to provide breastfeeding instruction and tips. If you need advice once you get home, you can call our Warm Line at 504-842-5210.

Once a C-Section Always a C-Section? Not Necessarily.

While the rate of Cesarean birth is going up in the U.S., Ochsner has one of the lowest primary C-section rates in the region. Although we advocate for vaginal delivery as the safest way to deliver, there are situations when a C-section is necessary, such as:

• Your baby is not in a head-down position
• You’re carrying multiples
• You have a condition that could worsen by the stress of labor
• You have an infection that could be passed to the baby by vaginal birth
• You’ve had more than one C-section

If you've had only one previous C-section with a transverse uterine incision, you may be a good candidate for a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) at Ochsner. Learn more on vaginal birth after a C-section.

Peace of Mind

The safety of the mothers and babies we treat comes above all else at Ochsner. This is reflected in the quality of our performance on the Prenatal Core Measures. We’re proud to announce that, in 2015, Ochsner had no early elective deliveries, had a low primary C-section rate and a low episiotomy rate. We are also equipped to take care of extremely premature babies and have maintained a high compliance with administration of steroids prior to birth. This reduces the risk of respiratory distress syndrome, prenatal morbidity and other morbidities.

Ochsner Baptist in New Orleans is a top referral center for complicated and more complex pregnancies and deliveries. Learn more about our Maternal Fetal Specialists and Fetal Care Program.

Baby-Friendly Hospital

Baby-Friendly Hospitals is a designation given by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to recognize hospitals that offer optimal care for infant feeding. The Family Birthing Center at Ochsner Medical Center – Baton Rouge is a Baby-Friendly Hospital and all of our other birthing centers are currently seeking the designation. Learn more about the Baby-Friendly designation.

Prenatal/Childbirth Classes

It takes 40 weeks for a baby to come to full term, but you’ll be doing more than craving pickles and eating ice cream. During that time, there is a nursery to get ready, a car seat to buy, books to read and classes to take. Ochsner offers birthing classes at eight locations across the Greater New Orleans area, as well as in Baton Rouge. View class schedules.

Menopause and Pregnancy

Menopause and pregnancy both affect the menstrual cycle. How does someone know if they are going through menopause or pregnancy? Menopause and pregnancy have several symptoms that are similar including weight gain, a missed period, mood swings, and bloating and cramping. If a patient is sexually active, it is recommended that they consult their physician for diagnosis.

Pregnancy After Menopause

Menopause is official once a patient has gone through an entire year without a period. Prior to this time, the patient is in the stage of perimenopause, which has symptoms including irregular periods, hot flashes, and night sweats. During perimenopause, pregnancy is still possible.

After menopause, eggs are no longer produced, which means a woman can’t become pregnant naturally. Pregnancy and successful delivery have been seen in women who have gone through menopause using a donor egg or their own frozen unfertilized eggs through in vitro fertilization (IVF).