The Family Birth Center at Atrium Medical Center Video Transcript

My name is Dr. Casey Boyce and I only practice and deliver at Atrium Medical Center. Both of my children were born at Atrium Medical Center and I had a wonderful experience both times. We have a small birthing unit, we can take care of anything that comes through the door.

Rooms for the Family

Each of the rooms was designed with a nurse zone which is where the electronic computer is now, a patient zone and a family zone. More importantly with the birth of a baby is the accommodation of the entire family so we wanted to make sure the rooms are large enough and that we had accommodations for the father and other support people to be there.

When we put in the cabinets, they are big and pretty, they are nice wood but they cover up the computers, the wires and the oxygen, so they serve a purpose but they also make it feel homier because there are the cupboards but we can easily get to everything we need. The warmer can be in a closet which is attached to the room and all the baby’s supplies are in a closet, so it looks just like a closet door off your bedroom but it’s all at arm’s reach to get everything that you need or may need for the delivery.

Specially Trained Staff

Another great quality of Atrium Medical Center is the specialists and the people we refer to or get referrals from. If we ever have a patient who is having difficulty or we need to consult someone, I’ll use a cardiologist as an example – they are almost always in house and very happy to come give us assistance in anything that we need.

Many of the nurses in our OB unit are nationally certified in the area of specialty of OB, nursery and fetal monitoring. All of the nurses are neonatal resuscitation providers and that is a requirement of the job and it gives me great confidence to know that when a nurse is caring for you they have been specially trained to handle normal and any emergency situations we have occur.

Special Care Nursery

We do have a special care nursery for those babies that may be low birth weight or have jaundice, hyperbilirubinemia or infection. We’re able to care we’re able to care for them in our special care nursery. Other than that, if the baby is healthy and the mother is healthy, we encourage rooming in which means the baby is with the mother essentially 24 hours a day. When the pediatrician does their exam, they do it right in the room. We’ve got medical gases and exam lights right in the room for the care of that baby.

Continuum of Care

We all live very close so if we’re not here in the hospital we can get here quickly but with a group of eight physicians we do a lot of deliveries so most of the time we are in the hospital and right down the hall and readily available.

The continuity of care exists from beginning of pregnancy to delivery to after pregnancy and even their post-partum visit.

Natural Birth Options

Research will show the more natural the birth is, the better the outcome will be. With that in mind, we offer jetted tubs so the mother in early labor can relax in a jetted tub. We also have birthing bars and birthing balls that physically will allow the woman to be in a position that will help enable and expedite a safer and faster labor. We also have massage therapy services. Our licensed massage therapist will provide relief during labor, provide massages post-partum and she will also teach parents how to give infant massage. The bottom line is we want to have a healthy delivery, a healthy baby and the amenities we offer will help in the comfort of the labor process and the post partum process. We also have the equipment, the knowledgeable staff, the technology to insure that from the clinical side they have a safe delivery process going on.

Our Purpose is You

When I hear the cry of the babies and see the smile of the mothers and the grandparents and the siblings get so excited to see these babies be born . . . you are part of it; you become part of that experience with them. It’s an amazing, euphoric feeling to be part of that.

One of the reasons I wanted to do family practice was because I wanted to get to know my patients and you have that in OB/GYN. We see people for nine months and then, hopefully for the rest of their lives. So we really get to know them and be there for one of the biggest moments of their life.