Low-Intervention Birthing Suites
For women looking for a non-medicated, natural childbirth experience, new low-intervention birthing suites are available at The Family Birth Place at Northwest Medical Center - Bentonville and Willow Creek Women's Hospital. They are the first hospital-based suites of their kind in Arkansas.
Leaders in OB services for the region, the two Northwest Health facilities were also the first two hospitals in the state of Arkansas to achieve international recognition as Baby-Friendly designated birth facilities. Watch the video here to see the KFSM 5News feature on the low-intervention birthing program at The Family Birth Place at Northwest Medical Center - Bentonville. Watch this video to see the KNWA News feature on the program at Willow Creek Women's Hospital. View virtual tours of both hospitals' low-intervention birthing suites.
With minimal intervention and technology, the low-intervention birth program allows hospital staff to support patients and families in their labor and birthing goals. The suites offer a large bed, specialized labor tub, shower, birthing stool, labor balls and waterproof, wireless monitoring. The hospitals also provide a variety of options for comfort during unmedicated labor, including aromatherapy, hydrotherapy and a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) unit to reduce pain. Both hospitals also offer nitrous oxide for pain relief.
In addition to offering alternatives to pain management along with a home-like environment, certified nurse midwives (CNMs) can also provide another dimension to care.
Obstetrician-gynecologists – in collaboration with midwives, nurses and those who support the patient in labor – can help women meet their goals for labor and birth by using techniques that require minimal interventions and have high rates of patient satisfaction. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) states that evidence suggests, in addition to regular nursing care, continuous one-to-one emotional support provided by support personnel, such as a doula, can be associated with improved outcomes for women in labor, such as shortened labor, decreased need for analgesia, fewer operative deliveries and fewer reports of dissatisfaction with the experience of labor.
Use of the low-intervention suite must be discussed and approved by a patient's healthcare provider. Availability is on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information or to speak with an OB nurse navigator at The Family Birth Place at NMC - Bentonville, call (479) 553-1266. For more information or to speak with an OB nurse navigator at Willow Creek Women's Hospital, call (479) 684-3204.
Northwest Medical Center - Bentonville and Willow Creek Women's Hospital offer neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), with a Level III unit in Willow Creek and a Level II in Bentonville.