New mother holding her baby with husband nearby in the Birthing Center at Columbus Regional Health.

Birthing Center

Contact Us

812-376-5212

2400 E 17th St
Columbus IN

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Overview

Having a baby is one of life's most important experiences, and Columbus Regional Health's Birthing Center provides a full range of delivery services to support your needs before, during and after giving birth. Our experienced nurses and physicians understand the needs and concerns of parents expecting a new baby. We provide family-centered mother and baby care as we welcome over 1,200 babies each year.

At our Birthing Center located at Columbus Regional Hospital, mothers have home-like baby delivery rooms that allow you to remain in one room for the entire childbirth process. The private rooms are furnished with the comforts of home, including a fold out bed for your partner or family member who wants to stay overnight. Behind closed doors each delivery room has state-of-the-art equipment for normal deliveries.  Also, if you require a cesarean delivery, you are transported directly to surgery and afterward returned to your own private room. After giving birth, you can rest with your baby at your bedside and greet family and friends in privacy and comfort.

Our Birthing Center staff is cross-trained to provide labor/delivery, postpartum and newborn care to accommodate and support the birthing options you request. After giving birth to your baby, our nurses teach you how to care for yourself and your baby, and our certified lactation consultants help moms get off to a good start.

Beginning in 2012, Columbus Regional Health's Birthing Center was selected by the March of Dimes to be part of a group of 100 hospitals nationwide included in the "Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait" campaign.  Hospitals that are part of this group adopted a policy to reduce medically unnecessary elective inductions and cesarean deliveries scheduled before 39 weeks of pregnancy.  Studies have shown that babies that are born after 39 weeks have a lower risk of lifelong health challenges.

The staff of the Birthing Center at Columbus Regional Health is honored to provide excellent patient care to all of our newborns and mothers. After such a long wait to see your new baby, we know how important it is to provide an atmosphere where parents can begin to get to know their newborn and learn to care for their baby. Because of this, we keep moms and babies together for their entire stay and take the baby out of the patient room only when absolutely necessary.

Of course, no one can predict what happens after a baby is born, which is why the Birthing Center is equipped with a Level 2 Nursery. The Level 2 Nursery is available to assist and support our newborns that have trouble transitioning to life after birth and need additional medical care after delivery.

Columbus Regional Health's Birthing Center is officially designated as baby-friendly by the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI). A baby-friendly designation means Columbus Regional Health follows a series of guidelines, practices and policies that offer every mother the information, confidence and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding their babies, and assists mothers who cannot or choose not to breastfeed with the information and skills to alternatively feed their babies safely.

The guidelines include following an evidence-based ten-step process, that supports bonding between babies and parents, education on safe and healthy feeding practices and ongoing care of babies. Following the established ten-step process supports lifetime health benefits for moms, babies and the community.

Learn more About Baby-Friendly

Two examination rooms are located in the Birthing Center and are used primarily to address special needs which might arise during pregnancy, such as determining the onset of early labor, evaluating medical problems or special testing. A physician lounge with a screen for fetal monitoring of each patient is also located in the Birthing Center, as well as four physician sleeping rooms, so your doctor can be nearby when needed.

With CRH’s My Pregnancy Journey, patients can use their computers or mobile devices to review digital prenatal education from a trusted source and track important decisions and tasks that need to happen at specific pregnancy milestones.

Learn More About My Pregnancy Journey

Mommy Express

The Columbus Regional Health Birthing Center has partnered with Mommy Express to help supply breast pumps for those who plan to have a baby at CRH. Patients who attend a PREPARE visit (usually at or after 36 weeks) can fill out paperwork to get a breast pump sent to their home before they even deliver, usually within 48 hours. Mommy Express carries a wide range of breast pumps and accessories, and patients will be contacted directly to provide options based on insurance coverage. This program allows moms to have a pump prior to delivery so that a lactation consultant can show them how it works. Mommy Express accepts a wide range of insurance types including Medicaid.


Mother breastfeeding her infant child

1200

Babies

Delivered at CRH Annually

Donor Milk Available at CRH

When a mother's milk is not available, pasteurized human donor milk can provide a healthy alternative. Human donor milk contains multiple immunological properties not present in formula. In addition, it reduces the chance of infection, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening intestinal condition, and sepsis and can reduce the length of a hospital stay.
Human donor milk is prescribed for:

  • Congenital abnormalities
  • Feeding intolerance
  • Immunologic deficiencies
  • Prematurity
  • Infants susceptible or recovering from NEC
  • Failure to thrive
  • Malabsorption syndromes
  • Short-gut syndrome

The Milk Bank follows strict screening and processing guidelines to ensure the safety of pasteurized human donor milk. The Milk Bank provides pasteurized donor milk by prescription to our hospital.

Columbus Regional Health is also a Milk Bank Donation site!

Columbus Regional Health has partnered with The Milk Bank to make donating easy and has established CRH as a convenient place for moms to drop off human milk donations. If you are interested in becoming a donor, please contact The Milk Bank directly at 317-536-1670 or go to www.themilkbank.org/donate to learn more. Once you have completed the screening process and have an official donor number, simply contact the Lactation Department at 812-375-3545 to schedule a drop-off time.

Visitation Policy

For the most up-to-date visitor guidelines, please review our Patient Visitation page.

Prenatal Classes

These classes provide you with information related to a variety of topics within the pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn spectrum.

View list of classes

Peer / Lactation Support

Breastfeeding Coalition logo

Nurse n' Chat is a time to meet with lactation consultants in an informal setting, meet other moms or to simply weigh your baby.

Nurse n' Chat meets every Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Mothering Essentials on 424 Washington St. (above Locketts) in downtown Columbus, IN.  An elevator is available.