Pregnancy & Childbirth

When you’re ready to start or add to your family, you want the most helpful information from compassionate experts who stay by your side every step of the way and deliver the best possible care for your particular situation. That’s exactly what you’ll find at the Mother & Baby Center in The Children’s Hospital at OU Health in Oklahoma City and through our women’s health and childbirth partners at OU Health in Tulsa.

Comprehensive Pregnancy & Childbirth Services for You

No matter where you live in Oklahoma or across the region, you can take advantage of the wide range of OU Health pregnancy and childbirth-related services. You benefit from advanced family-centered care designed to support you and your loved ones so you can enjoy the amazing journey of welcoming your new little one into a world of enthusiastic grandparents, siblings, extended family and friends.

Advanced Care in a Safe & Welcoming Environment

Through the Mother & Baby Center, part of Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health, you gain access to the most advanced care in the region for both uneventful experiences and special circumstances surrounding pregnancy and childbirth, including:

• Gestational diabetes – Elevated sugar in the bloodstream from a type of diabetes that happens only during pregnancy, where a specific hormone stops your body from using insulin properly
• High-risk pregnancy – Carrying triplets or multiples, having a history of miscarriage or other factors that may put you or your baby at risk while you’re pregnant or during delivery; access to the STAR Prenatal Clinic for pregnant women with a history of substance use
• Lactation services and breastfeeding – Oklahoma’s only full-service lactation center for education that prepares and supports you in breastfeeding your baby
• Neonatal and perinatal services – Specialized care for you and your baby both before and after birth, including Oklahoma’s only Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), providing the highest level of care as determined by national healthcare accrediting agencies
• Services for mothers wanting vaginal birth after Cesarean (VBAC)
• Forty mother-baby unit beds
• Sixteen labor and delivery rooms (LDR)
• Six urgent care rooms for labor and delivery
• Oklahoma’s only Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), providing the highest level of care available in the United States, just an elevator ride away, with NICVIEW cameras for families unable to remain with baby

Specialized Care for High-Risk Pregnancy & Follow-Up

As a high-risk mother living anywhere in Oklahoma or across the region, you can get a referral to the Mother & Baby Center and know you’ll receive individualized care for your specific situation as well as access to the state's highest level neonatal intensive care unit.

Family-Centered Care

Inside Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health in Oklahoma City, one of the first hospitals in the nation to provide complete care for moms and newborns in the same building, you’ll appreciate the spacious, comfortable birthing suite where your baby stays with you and your family except if undergoing special care. Should your new little one need intensive care, your childbirth team has immediate access to the advanced facilities and highly trained specialists you and your baby need.

As part of the family-centered care process, you and your family work with your healthcare providers as a team to make decisions about your care and the care of your baby. You also receive the information and education you need to make the best choices about your care and your baby’s care, including encouragement for breastfeeding and support for your specific needs, as well as those of your baby and your family.

National Accreditation for Baby-Friendly Hospitals

When you choose OU Health for pregnancy and childbirth care, you benefit from our collaboration with the University of Oklahoma Medical Center in Oklahoma City and Hillcrest Hospital in Tulsa, both of which hold the respected designation of Baby-Friendly Hospital, accredited in the United States by Baby-Friendly USA (BFUSA).

This global program, started in 1991 by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund, assists hospitals around the world in giving mothers the information, confidence and skills needed to start and continue breastfeeding or to safely feed with formula – the gold standard of maternity practices that support optimal infant nutrition and the health of both mother and baby.

Expert Guidance for Your Pregnancy & Beyond

As you begin your childbirth journey, choose one of OU Health’s board-certified obstetricians to help you and your baby prepare for a smooth pregnancy and a safe delivery. Through the expert guidance, individual attention and compassionate care you receive at the Mother & Baby Center, you’ll feel confident in your ability to take care of yourself and your new little one both before and after birth.

In Tulsa, you’ll work with OU Health Physician’s women’s health care providers who offer a wide range of obstetrics and gynecology services and access to healthcare professionals, including maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) physicians who specialize in helping you manage a high-risk pregnancy and birth.

As an expectant mother, learn more about what to expect during your prenatal visits.

Prenatal Educational Information

Outside of your regular obstetrics appointments, you benefit from a variety of advanced prenatal and family education classes through OU Health that help you and your family prepare for all stages of family growth. In addition, you can:

• Review the New Patient Information Booklet (pdf)
• Take a virtual tour of the Mother & Baby Center
• Visit the Mother & Baby Center in person – Get a tour during any prenatal education class or at 3:30 p.m. every Wednesday, excluding holidays; meet in the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital atrium.

Maternity Services & Childbirth

Delivering your baby at the Mother & Baby Center in Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health means you can expect a warm, welcoming, luxurious and safe environment with all the support you and your baby need.

Your multidisciplinary team of highly experienced doctors and nurses understands all types of maternal-fetal health situations, from routine care to complex or high-risk procedures, because more mothers and babies in at-risk pregnancies get their care at the Mother & Baby Center than anywhere else in Oklahoma.

CenteringPregnancy ® Program in Tulsa

Centering Pregnancy offers free, high quality, patient-centered care in small, group settings. CenteringPregnancy® brings together a group of pregnant woman who share close due dates and provide a safe space to ask all our questions, learn more about your own health, and share with other moms who are having similar experiences throughout pregnancy. The group prenatal care setting allows for discussion of topics and common concerns related to pregnancy ranging from prenatal nutrition, stress management, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, and much more. You will also receive private time with your provider during which you will have the opportunity to listen to baby’s heart beat and belly measurements will be performed. Why join Centering Pregnancy? Benefits include:

• Be more prepared for labor, delivery and to care for your infant.
• Learn what is ‘normal’ during a pregnancy.
• Spend more time with your provider
• Bond with women going through similar experiences
• Create lasting, meaningful friendships
• Main reason: Centering is Fun!

Please call our OU Health Physicians Women’s Health clinic at (918) 619-4200 and ask to speak to the Centering Pregnancy Coordinator for more information.

Midwifery Services in Tulsa

When you choose OU Health physicians in Tulsa for your pregnancy and childbirth care, you gain access to Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM) who provide direct care for you and your baby. They also teach medical students and train resident physicians who take part in your regular medical care and help provide treatment when you’re hospitalized. Your CNM:

• Promotes the health and well-being of women and infants
• Provides childbirth services supported by obstetricians in a hospital setting
• Offers prenatal and postpartum care
• Delivers low-risk pregnancies
• Provides family planning services
• Consults if needed with maternal-fetal medicine specialists or general obstetricians

As advanced practice registered nurses, CNMs specialize in women’s health care, achieve certification through the American College of Nurse-Midwives and gain recognition by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. In Tulsa, your CNM helps deliver your baby at Hillcrest Hospital, not at home or in a birth center, in partnership with board-certified OB/GYN physicians, to ensure you receive exceptional care. CNMs at OU Health in Tulsa can prescribe medications, order tests and provide you with obstetrical and gynecologic services throughout your life.

Ongoing Support for You, Your Newborn & Your Family

Giving birth in the Mother & Baby Center at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital marks only the beginning of the support you and your family receive from OU Health as you learn healthy ways to take care of your child, your family and yourself. In the Neonatal Village, a special nursery area just for NICU babies where parents stay in private rooms, you can learn and practice caring for your newborn.

Whether you choose pregnancy and childbirth care from OU Health in Oklahoma City or in Tulsa, you’re well prepared to return home with your new little one. You and your care team will review information about OU Health services across the state that can help you and your baby make a smooth transition from hospital to home. And you’re always welcome in our family education classes that keep you and your loved ones growing strong.

Baby Photos – Safely & Naturally: Capture your baby’s arrival by arranging for a complementary Bella Baby Photography session. From the comfort of your birthing suite, you and your entire family can participate in creating natural, artistic images. View the edited photos in a password-protected online slideshow and order prints to share with family and friends.