Labor and delivery at Chester County Hospital
Expert labor and delivery care for you and your baby
More families choose to deliver at Chester County Hospital than any other hospital in the county. Our team welcomes nearly 3,000 babies each year, giving us the experience and skill to provide the best care possible for you and your baby.
Our family-focused obstetrics and maternity care honors your wishes and partners with you to make the best decisions for you and your family. At Chester County Hospital, our team of experts supports you, including obstetricians, pediatricians, nurses, and lactation consultants. We’re a Magnet® hospital for excellence, which highlights the outstanding nursing care we provide every family.
We’re also a designated Baby-Friendly® Hospital, which means we provide infant feeding education and help you breastfeed if you choose to do so. Our team of International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) offers comprehensive breastfeeding support. In fact, we received the IBCLC Care Award for excellence in lactation services. We also promote bonding through skin-to-skin care immediately after birth and keep infants in the room with you as much as possible.
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Promoting a positive childbirth experience at Chester County Hospital
Childbirth is a natural, exciting event for you and your family. Our team provides personalized care according to your preferences while keeping you and your family safe and healthy.
You’ll deliver in one of our comfortable, private birthing suites. We monitor you and your baby as you labor to make sure you’re progressing well. Our nurses help you manage pain using drug-free methods like breathing techniques and a birthing ball. If you choose an epidural for pain relief, an anesthesiologist is always available.
The labor and delivery unit has two surgical suites for scheduled or unplanned C-sections (cesarean delivery). Our maternal-fetal medicine specialists are on-site if you have a high-risk pregnancy, providing you with safe, comprehensive care during labor and delivery.
If you have a C-section, one support person may be with you in the surgical suite.
Whether you have a vaginal or cesarean delivery, you and your baby participate in the “Welcome Hour” right after birth. You hold your baby on your chest for at least 60 minutes when possible.
This special, uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact, commonly called kangaroo care, promotes bonding between you and your newborn. It also helps your baby transition to life outside your womb by regulating their heart rate, breathing, body temperature, and blood sugar levels. If you choose to breastfeed, the time also helps your baby initiate feeding and stimulates your milk production.
After the Welcome Hour, we weigh your baby and give them their first medications. A nurse takes you and your baby to a private maternity suite. The suites are in our Mother and Baby Pavilion on the second floor of Lasko Tower. You, your baby, and your support partner will spend one to three nights in a maternity suite, depending on your birth recovery. Rooming with your baby helps you become confident in caring for them and promotes family bonding.
Your private maternity suite includes:
- Bed for overnight visitors
- European-style bathrooms
- Meals from our hospitality team
- Snacks and refreshments for you and your visitors
- Spacious rooms with natural light
Our nurses check on you and your baby regularly, ensuring you’re both recovering well. A certified lactation consultant can visit you after delivery to provide breastfeeding support. They help you learn to breastfeed, pump, or bottle-feed your baby.
Every afternoon, we have quiet time for you and your newborn. This helps your new family get to know each other without distractions or interruptions. Family, friends, and siblings are welcome to visit. However, siblings shouldn’t stay overnight due to safety concerns.
Your family’s safety is important to us. Our unit has advanced security features, like locked and monitored entry points and leading identification technology for babies and their parents.
Our nurses help prepare your family to go home, providing you with information on how to care for yourself and your newborn. We answer your questions and connect you to one of our certified lactation consultants if you need more feeding guidance.
Before leaving the hospital, you participate in our SAFE sleep program. A maternity nurse reviews safe newborn sleep practices, which includes you placing your baby in their crib alone, on their back, on a firm surface, with nothing else in their crib.
We also offer in-person and online parenting education to help you learn how to care for your baby, navigate postpartum recovery, and overcome breastfeeding challenges.
We also offer a variety of support groups for moms, dads, and grief to support parent wellness.
The Moore Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
About 10 percent of babies born at Chester County Hospital spend time in the Moore Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). As the only Level III NICU in the county, we are fully equipped to care for infants who were born prematurely, have trouble breathing, or need extra monitoring due to complications. Our partnership with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), through CHOP Newborn Care, means your baby receives care from a team of expert neonatologists (newborn specialists).
We support you in taking an active role in caring for your newborn during this time. Our team incorporates you into your baby’s routine care as we work together to support their growth and development.
We encourage you to be at the NICU as much as possible, but we know being there 24/7 is difficult. Our staff provides you with daily updates on your baby’s progress, and you can call us anytime with questions about their care. You can also log in to the AngelEye app to view a live video of your baby. This technology lets you receive communication updates from your child’s care team and see your child anytime.
Chester County Hospital’s NICU family amenities
We realize you may be spending a lot of time at the NICU. We strive to make it as comfortable as possible with services and amenities, including:
- Breast pumps and bottles
- Cabinet storage for your items in your baby’s room
- Family lounge with TV, refrigerator, and microwave
- Interpreter services for visually impaired, hearing impaired, and non-English speaking families
- Meal vouchers upon request
- Private lactation room
- Reclining chair in your baby’s room
What to expect at the Moore NICU
