Delivering at REX Hospital Women's Center
REX Hospital Women's Center is a wonderful, beautiful hospital centrally located in Raleigh to make having a baby a convenient and delightful experience. Furthermore, REX is part of the UNC Health Systems so you can assured you will get the top notch medical care you would at UNC affiliated practice or hospital. REX is also excited to offer their very own free app, UNC REX Pregnancy & Baby, available for download for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. This is a great way to track your pregnancy, stay up to date on news from REX and enjoy other special pregnancy tips!
Pre-registration
Pre-registration is available online. It is recommend you do this early to ensure that your information is in the hospital system well before your estimated date of delivery.
The Following Practices Deliver at REX Hospital
Arrival
Parking is free and directly in front of the Women’s Center. If you need immediate attention, your partner can drop you off directly in front of the Women’s Center via the traffic circle, and then park and meet inside the hospital. Once inside, you can check in with the security guard and be escorted to the second floor.
Triage
Once on the second floor, and not in need of immediate attention, you will go to triage for observation. While in triage, you will be assessed from 30 minutes to two hours to determine if you should be admitted. You will receive a HepLock as well as fetal monitoring, and mostly likely some blood tests. REX Hospital is excited to announce that their triage unit is now staffed by OB Hospitalists that can observe and admit you if your primary doctor or midwife is not immediately available. There is a limit to one person in triage, but in some situations, you may be able to have both your support person and doula depending on what your medical team feels is in your best interests.
Labor and Delivery Rooms
If you are admitted, you will be moved from Triage to one of the 40 Labor and Delivery rooms on the second floor. The floor is secure, so any visitors must provide your name, room number and proper identification. There is a limit to three additional people (including children) in your room at one time, this number may be limited by your medical team if necessary or if there is an active flu outbreak.
Rex is well equipped for you to have the type of birth you would like to have. In each of the private rooms, there is full bathroom with a massaging shower head, birth balls, television, free WiFi, and peanut balls. You may request a squat bar, birthing stool, birthing mirror, and hot or cold compresses at any time. Rex is also excited to offer nitrous oxide to patients. In addition to offering nitrous, Rex offers IV medications and epidurals. If you need to have fetal monitoring, each room is equipped with traditional fetal monitoring, and wireless monitors are available upon request. Normal protocol is for the birthing person to wear the hospital issued gown, but you are welcome to bring your own if you would like. If the need for a cesarean birth arises, you will be required to wear only hospital issued clothing.
On the Labor and Delivery floor, there is a small coaches corner for drinks with a small fridge. There are also vending and coffee machines on the 1st and 3rd floor. Once you are admitted, you will be on a clear liquid diet, and may use room service to order soup broths and clear drinks.
Once your baby is born, skin to skin and breastfeeding will be encouraged. Delayed cord clamping and delayed baths are also standard at REX. You will stay in your labor and delivery room for about two hours and then moved to your Mother-Baby room.
Please note: hospital policy states no pictures may be taken during actual procedures (including birth).
Cesarean Births
REX Hospital offers three dedicated operating rooms for scheduled and unscheduled cesarean births on the same floor as the Labor and Delivery rooms. REX Hospital is starting to allow birthing people to have more options if the need for a cesarean birth arises. There is now the option of having a clear drape during the procedure as well as having a support person and doula in the OR during the procedure. If medically safe, immediate skin-to-skin and breastfeeding can occur in the OR. These options are at the discretion of your medical team, and should be discussed prior to the procedure.
Mother Baby Room
How long you stay in your postpartum room depends on several factors, but the main is how your birthed your baby. For vaginal births, the normal protocol is two nights, and for cesarean births it is three nights. The exact timeframe depends on your recovery, your baby’s health, and the decisions of your medical team. During your postpartum stay, there is no limit to the number of visitors in your room, but your medical team may choose to limit them if there are complications with your health. Visitors are required to have proper identification and obtain visitor passes in 24 hour blocks.
The hospital will provide you and your baby everything you need while you both are patients, such as, hospital gown and toiletries for you, and diapers, wipes, simple shirts, blankets, bottles and formula for your baby. If you have any specific items you would like, it is recommended you bring them from home. Please note, the hospital does not provide pacifiers. Your partner will also be provided all the bedding he or she needs. If you would like to bring your own bedding, the hospital recommends that the bedding be brightly colored as not to be confused with the hospitals all-white bedding.
While REX Hospital does encourage rooming-in for new parents and baby as it helps everyone recovery from birth, there is a healthy baby nursery that you can send your baby to so you can rest. If you choose to this, the nurses will bring your baby back to you for all feedings, including formula fed babies, to encourage bonding. Most of the newborn procedures will be done in the room, but some routine hearing tests, vaccines, and circumcision can be done in the nursery.
If your baby needs some extra attention, there is a Level IV, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at REX Hospital. They do limit the amount of visitors for NICU patients, and can restrict visitors if there an active flu outbreak.
How you feed your baby is a personal choice, and however you choose to do so, the staff at REX Hospital will support you. If you choose to breastfeed your baby, lactation counselors are available six days a week to support you, as well as many of the nurses have advanced training in lactation support. The hospital will also provide you with a hospital grade Medella breast pump if you need it, and you can keep the parts when you are discharged. If you decide to formula feed your newborn, the nursing staff will teach you how much and how often to feed your baby. They will also provide enough formal and bottles for your entire stay, and may send some extra home with you.
REX Hospital is known for having above average food. Patients are lucky in that they can order from the patient menu and have it delivered to their room between 6:45am and 6:45pm, with an afterhours menu available until 1am. Your support person may buy vouchers for $8 from the cafeteria to also order off the patient menu and have room service. There are also two other cafes throughout the hospital. The Korner Cafe that is close to the Women’s Center has sandwiches, salads, pizza and other snacks, and is open from 6am to 3pm. There is also a new cafe in the Cancer Hospital that has similar hours to the Korner Cafe and has Mediterranean food.
Newborn photography services are available through Bella Baby and a member of that team will come by your room, usually on day two of your hospital stay. Pictures are free to take, and packages are available for purchase. Cord Blood Banking is also something that can be done at REX Hospital. For your baby’s birth certificate, a member of the birth certificate team will come by your room for an in-person interview.
Your new baby will be seen by a pediatrician from REX while in the hospital, unless you have a local pediatrician that visits patients while in the hospital. It is recommended to make your baby’s first pediatrician’s appointment while still in the hospital, but not required. Your nursing team can help you make that appointment.
Discharge
On the day of your discharge, your medical team will try to have discharged finished by 11:00am. You and your baby will be transported by wheelchair to the traffic circle in from of the Women’s Center, and your support person can pick you up directly from the traffic circle. North Carolina Law states the infant seat be properly installed prior to discharge.
