Caring for postpartum mothers as they bond and recover in our Mother Baby Unit.
After you have safely brought your baby into the world, you will transition from the labor and delivery area to our Mother Baby Unit (MBU) paired with Couplet Care. Here, you will receive personal, compassionate care while you recover. A Mother Baby Unit, also known as Postpartum Unit (PPU), is a place where babies, mothers and family will stay at The Woman's Hospital of Texas after birth. Our nurses are dedicated to assisting you in your immediate after-delivery care and preparing you for caring for yourself after you leave.
Mother Baby Unit Stay
When you are moved to your Mother Baby room, your baby will go with you. We encourage you to keep your baby in your room day and night to help you breastfeed more successfully and to feel more confident when you take your baby home. In addition, managing your pain is a top priority with the Mother Baby nurses. You will be given a pain management card to help you keep track of when you can have pain medication and what effect you might expect from it.
New mothers generally stay in the Mother Baby Unit for 48-hours after a vaginal delivery and 72-hours (3 days) after a cesarean section.
- Each private Mother Baby room includes a bed, sofa, and television.
- Rooms provide overnight accommodations for your support person.
- Wi-Fi is available throughout the hospital, so you can post photos from your laptop or tablet to keep family and friends updated.
- During your stay with us, birth-registration staff members will record information for the birth certificate and electronically submit it to the state.
- You may choose to receive visitors or just rest – the hospital recognizes quiet time hours from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. daily
Mother Baby Nursing Care
All Mother Baby nurses at The Woman's Hospital of Texas are educated and trained to care for both you and your baby, which is important as you will be rooming-in with your newborn. All of our postpartum nurses have completed several hours of breastfeeding education. Lactation consultants are also available 24/7 to discuss beneficial techniques and to help you through those first few breastfeeding sessions.
During nursing shift changes, your current and in-coming nurse will meet at your bedside for reports and to discuss your goals and expectations. Your nurse and your baby’s nurse carry a phone, allowing you to speak directly to them as needed. Upon discharge, your nurse will provide information about how to care for yourself and your baby when you go home.
Couplet Care, Bonding and Breastfeeding
We strive to limit separation between mothers and newborns and support rooming in where healthy babies and their mothers stay together day and night for bonding and care. We believe that keeping your baby in your room is best for the whole family as it allows:
- More bonding between baby and parents as they learn how to care for and soothe their baby
- Mothers to get more rest and sleep better
- Babies to cry less, be easier to calm, gain weight quicker, and spend more time in quiet sleep
- Breast milk to come in faster, production to increase, and cues to be noticed sooner
Our policies and care practices meet the gold standard for mother and baby care practices related to breastfeeding. Couplet care allows newborns to stay close to their mothers so that they can breastfeed as soon as they are ready.
Mother Baby Care Services
In addition to our trained nursing staff, International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) are available to assist you with breastfeeding 7 days a week. They are available to discuss beneficial techniques and to help you through those first few breastfeeding sessions. We also provide breastfeeding classes and support groups.
As one of the most challenging feats that women experience, pregnancy, can leave mothers with stretched skin, back pain, painful and tight scars, pelvic floor weakness and pain. Left unattended, these may lead to problems with organ prolapse, urinary or fecal leakage or sexual pain, if not soon after delivery then several months later.
Our Physical Therapy Department provides Licensed Physical Therapists that specialize in women’s health and pelvic floor problems. We can help patients manage pain through manual therapy, education, and exercise. We offer therapy for scar pain, prenatal or postpartum back pain, and other women’s issues.
“Code Pink” is our infant security system. After birth, we will place a sensor on your baby soon after birth, and it can only be removed by approved staff members. The sensor alerts us to any unauthorized movement of your child.
Color-coded uniforms provide an additional safety measure that lets us know which staff members have permission to transport infants. While in our Postpartum Unit, you are our focus. After you have safely brought your baby into the world, you will transition from the labor and delivery area to our Postpartum Unit (PPU) where you will receive personal, compassionate care while you recover. Our nurses are dedicated to assisting you in your immediate after-delivery care and preparing you for caring for yourself after you leave.
The Woman’s Hospital of Texas has many systems in place to ensure a secure environment for you and your newborn. We offer our Photo-All-Baby Program as recommended by the Center for Missing and Exploited Children in which every newborn’s photo is taken and stored. Your participation is vital to the security of your newborn. This is in addition to the security photo taken of your baby once you arrive in the MBU.
To help celebrate your new baby with brothers or sisters, we are happy to provide a sibling cake the day before discharge or the morning of the discharge. To order a sibling cake, please call extension 3663. Delivery times are 10:30 a.m. or 3:30 p.m.
Every woman who chooses The Woman's Hospital of Texas receives the personal, compassionate care for which we are renowned. For an additional fee, we offer The Woman's Suites to provide extra touches not usually found in a hospital. If you are interested in staying in a suite, please inform your L&D nurse upon arrival for delivery. Since we never know exactly when babies are going to be born, we cannot make reservations for the suites. If one is not available when your baby is born, we will make every effort to transfer you to one during the course of your stay. For additional information, please call (713) 790-1234.
The Woman’s Hospital of Texas offers At Your Request™ Room Service Dining. Please call FOOD (Extension 3663) to place your order any time between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. A Food Service Representative will take your order, and your food will be delivered to your room within 45 minutes. You may also place your entire day’s selection at once.
If your physician has placed you on a modified or restricted diet, the Food Service Representative will help you with your selection. Guest trays are also available at an additional charge and can be purchased from the Café by calling extension 3663. When finished with your meal, please contact a staff member to remove the tray. Please do not place food trays in the hallway. The Woman’s Hospital of Texas wants all our patients to be very satisfied with their meals. Please feel free to let your Food Service Representative know how we can help satisfy all your food service needs.
Homecare services, such as Mother Baby visits and homecare for high-risk pregnancies, are available from a number of providers if your doctor determines this is necessary for you. Other homecare services available include skilled nursing, home health aides, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, medical social services, a mental health and wellness program, and skin and wound management.