Prenatal care

Routine appointments with your obstetrician-gynecologist (OB/GYN) are an important way to make sure you have a healthy pregnancy. Early on, these appointments occur about once a month, then they increase in frequency as your pregnancy progresses.

During prenatal appointments, your typical medical vitals (such as your blood pressure and heart rate) will be checked and your OB/GYN will listen to your baby's heartbeat. At certain visits, a blood sample may be taken, you may do a glucose test and you will have the option to test for indications of any chromosomal abnormalities. Your doctor will also track your baby's development through ultrasounds and by measuring your belly's growth.

Your prenatal appointments are your opportunity to ask your OB/GYN any questions about pregnancy and birth and to discuss a birth plan that works for you. We encourage you to take advantage of this time — we are here to listen and discuss whatever is important to you.

Some women experience a pregnancy that is considered high risk. In these cases, our high-risk pregnancy specialists, called perinatologists, work with your OB/GYN to provide additional, specialized care and birthing plans to ensure a safe pregnancy and delivery for you and your baby.

Some factors that can cause a pregnancy to be high risk include:

• Being significantly overweight or underweight during pregnancy
• Being pregnant with multiples (i.e., twins, triplets, etc.)
• Complications with prior pregnancies or instances of miscarriage
• Going into premature labor
• Health conditions from before pregnancy, such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes
• Health issues that occur during pregnancy, such as gestational diabetes and preeclampsia
• Maternal age (typically 35 years old and older and 17 years old and younger)
• Potential birth defects in the fetus

Our labor and delivery unit is renovated to ensure the best possible experience for mothers during childbirth. We welcome you to take a maternity tour of our unit, helping you become familiar with our facilities.

To schedule a maternity tour, please call our labor and delivery team at (305) 860-5220.

Our childbirth services staff understands you likely have many questions about pregnancy and childbirth. That's why we offer a wide variety of prenatal classes to help parents prepare for this exciting time.

You will find information on some of our classes below.

Preparing for childbirth, particularly for first-time parents, can be both a wonderful and overwhelming experience. Our specially trained staff offers two options for childbirth preparation workshops:

• Single workshop — Our single workshop includes a Saturday childbirth preparation class with a tour of the maternity department.
• Workshop package — Our workshop package includes our single Saturday workshop as well as an infant CPR class, a prenatal breastfeeding class and a tour of the maternity department.

Although all parents hope to never have to use CPR on a child, infant CPR can be an invaluable tool when having a newborn in the home. It allows parents to take quick action during an emergency.

Our infant CPR classes, taught by certified specialists, include step-by-step instructions on how to perform infant CPR.

Our prenatal breastfeeding classes will provide an abundance of information to help you and your baby have a successful start to breastfeeding.

The class covers topics such as:

• The advantages and disadvantages of breastfeeding
• The lactation process
• The components of breast milk
• What to expect within the first couple of weeks of breastfeeding 
• How the baby will latch-on
• Breastfeeding positions and techniques 
• Understanding newborn feeding cues
• How to know if your baby is getting enough to eat
• Information about breast pumps
• The different types of breast feeders

If you would like to register for a prenatal class, please view the class schedule and sign up online, or call us at (305) 285-2770.