Rush-Copley’s Family Birth Center has just completed a major renovation to help the community welcome their babies into the world. Rush-Copley’s Family Birth Center labor, delivery and recovery rooms have been refreshed with new finishes from the bathrooms and floors to comfortable, convertible sofa beds for those supporting their loved ones.

One of the highlights of the project is the area’s first and only alternative birthing suite. This suite features a large heated bathtub, a queen-size bed and special laboring items and equipment for those desiring and able to pursue a birth with minimal medical intervention.  Other features of the suite include:

• Birthing Sling – Helps to utilize gravity to support a woman in labor. Different positions help with coping through contractions and rotation of the infant’s head to the most optimal position for delivery.
• Tub Birth or Hydrotherapy – Water eases the discomfort of the birthing process.
• Birthing Seat – Designed to support women laboring while sitting in an upright position. Sitting upright in this specialized seat supports the cervical opening, rotation and descent of the baby.
• Aroma therapy
• Specialty lighting and candles
• Birthing and peanut balls
• High-definition TV, warmer for heating packs and more

Rush-Copley Medical Group midwives, in collaboration with obstetrician-gynecologists, provide gynecology, prenatal, labor and delivery as well as postnatal care. The midwives are dedicated to enhancing labor options for their patients while they enjoy the home-like atmosphere of the suite, with the safety and proximity of hospital resources if needed.

Oswego resident Natalie Soelke, a patient of Rush-Copley Midwife Amy Burgess, CNM, was one of the first patients to deliver in the new alternative birthing suite. Soelke previously labored in a birth tub at Rush-Copley with the birth of her first son, Jonathon, 2. In February, she delivered her son Christopher via water birth in the new alternative birth suite.

“It felt so natural, I would almost describe it as easy,” said Soelke. “There was no pressure and the water was so relaxing. I was guided through the birth easily as we welcomed Christopher into our family. It was a great experience.”

The alternative birth suite provides families with a home-like birth in the safety of a hospital setting.

“There are a growing number of women in the area who wish to have a natural childbirth experience,” said Mary Shilkaitis, vice president of patient care and chief nursing officer at Rush-Copley. “Our alternative birth suite provides this experience while having the reassurance of being in a hospital with immediate proximity to the full scope of medical interventions if needed.”

Learn more about Rush-Copley’s Family Birth Center at rushcopley.com/FamilyBirthCenter.

About Rush-Copley Medical Center

Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, IL, is a 210-bed hospital providing health and wellness services to the greater Fox Valley community. Nearly 500 physicians and 2,000 clinical and professional staff members provide advanced medicine and extraordinary care to patients.  Rush-Copley is a member of the Rush-System for Health.

SOURCE: Rush-Copley Medical Center news release