Pregnancy and Birthing
The birth of your baby is a time of wonder. At Elmbrook Memorial, we’re here to make this special experience a positive and memorable one for your entire family.
Designed For Your Family’s Comfort
Elmbrook Memorial’s Family Birth Center focuses on the thing that matters most: the safety and well-being of you and your child. We are committed to family-centered care that provides parents-to-be with an individualized approach designed to help you through all aspects of pregnancy, delivery and beyond.
From Conception To Delivery
Maternity care ranges from classes for couples considering when to enter into parenthood, to prenatal education and comprehensive and compassionate medical care from conception through delivery for both newborn and mom.
We understand the important role that family, friends and key support people can play in the birth of a child. Our Family Birth Center staff strives to assist families in adapting to the new roles that a baby creates through physical, emotional, social and spiritual support.
Baby Friendly Designation
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare hospitals are dedicated to providing baby friendly environments and do so in many ways.
As it relates to breastfeeding, The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for breastfeeding mothers and families. Hospitals may apply for this designation, and two of Wheaton Franciscan hospitals have done so.
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare –Elmbrook Memorial and St. Francis have specific “Baby Friendly Hospital” designations, awarded after undergoing an extensive accreditation process.
They are two of only five hospitals in Wisconsin and fewer than 75 in the United States with this distinction.
Prenatal Assessment Center
It’s estimated that one in four women will experience complications during their pregnancy and may be considered high risk. To prevent or minimize possible complications, it’s important to receive a prenatal assessment that evaluates specific aspects of a baby's health before he or she is born. This information helps couples and doctors manage a pregnancy better and work toward the mutual goal of healthier mothers and babies.
Our Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialists have decades of experience treating high risk mothers and babies. Perinatologists with advanced skill in treating pregnancy complications work closely with nurses experienced in the management of high-risk pregnancy. These professionals can be referred to for consultations, ultrasounds, amniocentesis, diabetic teaching and antenatal testing. Each patient in our Center continues to be cared for by her own OB/GYN or Family Physician throughout her pregnancy and delivery.
Reasons for prenatal diagnosis include:
- Advanced maternal age
- Concerns raised by ultrasound and prenatal screening tests
- Previous pregnancy with a chromosome abnormality, birth defect or genetic disorder
- Known carrier status of genetic disorders or chromosome rearrangements
- Exposure to certain medications or environmental agents/infections
- Family history of birth defects or genetic disorders
For more information, please contact Elmbrook Memorial’s Prenatal Assessment Center at (262) 785-2424
‘Your Special Nurse’ Program
Each mom who delivers her baby at Elmbrook Memorial’s Family Birth Center may participate in our ‘Your Special Nurse’ program, which partners one of our highly skilled and trained nurses with a mom for the duration of her pregnancy. By maintaining a relationship with a special nurse from early pregnancy through delivery, parents and family members can design the birth experience that best meets their wishes and needs.
Through regular conversations, tours and visits, your special nurse will provide you with advice, options and answers to all those normal questions and concerns that arise during pregnancy. He or she will also be your resource to prenatal classes, sibling preparation, delivery options, pain management choices, arranging any cultural or social preferences you may have and providing guidance in the care of your newborn.
Through family-centered care, we want everyone involved to have the most positive birthing experience possible. ‘Your Special Nurse’ program is just one more way we can help families prepare for one of life’s greatest moments.
Single Room Maternity – Our Birth Day Suites
When baby is ready to arrive, our Birth Day Suites allow parents-to-be the convenience of combining labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum care all within specially designed rooms. Each spacious and attractively-appointed Birth Day Suite has the latest technology to ensure that doctor, mom and baby have all the necessary tools for a safe and healthy delivery.
Family and others present to support you during childbirth may stay with you in the Birth Day Suite at all times throughout your labor and birth.
During labor, we offer a variety of natural pain relief options including hydrotherapy and aromatherapy, as well as traditional epidural and anesthetic relief with in-house anesthesia coverage at all times. Doulas (birth attendants) are also available for labor support. Births may be attended by obstetricians or family practice physicians and are assisted by nurses who are cross-trained to care for both mom and baby during labor and delivery. After birth, your child will stay in your suite with you in a specially-designed bassinet with continual nurse observation and assistance.
Special Care Nursery
Any baby who demonstrates even the slightest difficulty adjusting to life after birth will go to our Special Care Nursery for additional assessment, one-on-one observation and/or treatment, allowing new parents to rest assured that their precious new arrival is receiving the best care available.
This nursery treats infants who have unexpected difficulty during delivery or after birth or who are born up to 8 weeks prematurely. Neonatologists and perinatologists, as well as nurses specially trained in neonatal intensive care, provide these infants with the care and attention they need.
It’s also good to know that as a member of Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, Elmbrook Memorial also has immediate access to southern Wisconsin’s largest and most comprehensive Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at our sister hospital – St. Joseph’s. This affiliation ensures that even high-risk babies receive the best care available.
Women’s Services
Women’s health is not limited to maternity care. Our experienced nurses provide care for women at all of life’s stages. Women who require gynecological surgery or treatments can recover in beautifully appointed rooms while receiving care from nurses most experienced in women’s health care.
With an emphasis on compassion, care, and privacy, medical care is delivered to ensure that each woman’s individual care plan meets all her needs and expectations. For more information please read about The Pavlic Center.
Elmbrook Memorial Hospital
19333 W. North Avenue
Brookfield, WI 53045
(262) 785-2000
For more information on Elmbrook Memorial’s Obstetrics and Women’s Services, please call (262) 785-2254.
For more information visit our online Pregnancy Health Center.