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Your Stay

What to Pack

We suggest packing two smaller bags—one for use during labor and one for after your baby arrives. Items include:

  • Items for your personal comfort (such as lip balm and deodorant)
  • Loose, comfortable clothing for you to go home in
  • Clothes for your baby to wear home as well as a blanket
  • Baby's car seat
  • Your pediatrician's name and phone number
  • Please leave your valuables at home

How to Get to the Hospital and Where to Park

Upon arrival at the Overlake Medical Center campus, follow signs to the west garage (below the childbirth center). Enter the elevator and proceed to the sixth floor. If you feel birth is imminent, park in the “Stork Parking" spaces located on the first floor of the garage (level 2) near the elevators.

Each family is given one parking pass, which allows for five days of free parking for one car.

Please ask your family and friends to call the childbirth center reception desk at (425) 688-5326 to determine your location following your baby’s birth.

What to Expect When You Arrive

Every birth is unique. Some women in early labor may go to the Obstetrical Emergency Department (OB-ED), while others may be admitted and taken directly to a Labor & Delivery / Recovery room. While our staff works as a team to ensure the safest and timeliest care possible for all mothers and babies, it is not unusual to experience unexpected delays as you journey toward birth. Rest assured that we value your individual experience and will work to make it a memorable one.

Your Room

During labor and birth you will stay in one of our private labor-delivery-recovery suites. Each suite has a special birthing bed, Jacuzzi tub and shower, birth ball, and television. Two surgical suites specially equipped for Cesarean or high-risk vaginal births are located within the unit.

Whether you need help with comfort techniques or encouragement, our skilled nursing staff is there to support you throughout your delivery.

After birth, you and your family will enter our mother-baby unit, where we will care for you until your hospital discharge. This private room provides a comfortable atmosphere following your recovery. Each room is conveniently equipped with a television and personal educational videos to enhance the patient education program. The mother/baby suites also have a shower. Your baby will stay in the room with you at all times so you and your growing family have the chance to get to know each other before going home.

All patient rooms have accommodations for one. Your birth partner may stay overnight if desired, before or after the birth. There is ample space for family members you wish to have them present at your baby's birth.

Patients and families have access to free, wireless Internet throughout the entire Childbirth Center.

The childbirth center's four-level security program includes a state-of-the-art system to help ensure you and your newborn are receiving care in a secure environment.

Planned Cesarean Birth

If you are admitted for a planned cesarean birth, you will be admitted to one of our rooms, then moved to a Cesarean birth room for the delivery. After the birth, you will return to your room with your baby.

Request for elective (non-medically indicated) delivery by cesarean section, as opposed to natural labor, can increase risk of complication for both the mother and baby. Elective C-section risks may include:

  • Future high-risk pregnancies due to increased risk of uterine rupture and abnormal placenta, which can result in hysterectomy and maternal and/or fetal death.
  • Increased risk of severe blood loss, infection, organ injury, intra-abdominal adhesions, blood clots, wound infections, or delayed wound healing.
  • Longer recovery time, including a longer hospital stay.
  • Higher risk of infant respiratory problems, such as respiratory distress syndrome and transient tachypnea.
  • Increased cost.

Length of Stay

Usually, after a typical vaginal birth, moms and babies stay with us for about 24 hours. After an uncomplicated cesarean birth, the stay usually lasts 48 hours. Longer than normal stays are determined by your medical needs and your healthcare provider.

We encourage you to keep baby in the room with you so your growing family can get the chance to know each other before going home. Our nursing staff will spend time with you and your baby, teaching you basic infant care such as feeding, diapering and swaddling. When it comes to feeding your baby, all of our Childbirth Center nurses are trained to help you with breastfeeding. There are also lactation consultants available as needed to help you in the hospital and after you and your baby go home.

We continue care in the early days after discharge through our postpartum follow-up program at the Mom & Baby Care Center. A follow-up appointment will be made for you and your baby.

Meals

All of mom’s meals will be provided. Overlake offers dining room service during your stay, which includes vegetarian and gluten-free options. Your nurse will provide information about placing meal requests for you and your partner.

Keeping Your Baby Healthy

Keeping hands clean is the best way to avoid illness and sharing germs. Staff and visitors should wash or sanitize their hands before and after caring for you or your baby. Sick visitors should stay home. Encourage family and friends to get a flu vaccine and a whooping cough vaccine (Tdap).

Please ask your care providers and visitors in the hospital, "Did you wash or sanitize your hands?" This also applies once you arrive home as visitors ask to hold your baby.

Skin-to-Skin Care

At Overlake, we welcome babies softly. This means your baby spends the first hour of life calmly in uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact with you. Please encourage your loved ones to honor this first precious hour.

Skin-to-skin means placing baby belly down directly on your chest immediately after birth for the first hour of life. Baby will be covered with a warmed blanket and a hat put on their head to help maintain body temperature. Snuggling skin-to-skin lets you and your baby get to know each other as well as provides important health benefits for both of you. If you are planning to breastfeed, skin-to-skin holding may encourage your baby to begin feeding in the first hour of life. Skin-to-skin is the best place for your baby to adjust to life in the outside world.

Continue skin-to-skin in the first weeks at home. Fathers can also perform skin-to-skin care. Babies held skin-to-skin stay warmer, calmer and cry less. Benefits of skin-to-skin care for baby include:

  • Helps baby maintain a healthy body temperature.
  • Calms and soothes baby.
  • Improves baby’s sleep.
  • Helps with weight gain.
  • Helps baby feed more successfully.
  • Regulates baby’s response to pain.

The benefits of skin-to-skin care for mother include:

  • Provides a wonderful way to bond with baby.
  • Reduces stress.
  • Improves milk production and breastfeeding.
  • Speeds recovery from childbirth.
  • Increases confidence in baby care.

Baby's First Bath

Your baby may be bathed within 24-hours of being born. Your baby is born with a natural moisturizer, Vernix which is a whitish, waxy substance on the skin and has many protective benefits. At birth we will dry your baby, but will leave Vernix on as it is better for the baby. 

Because Vernix is a natural moisturizer, it will be absorbed naturally over time. It maintains water balance in the skin, and keeps your baby’s skin soft and supple. It is a skin shield that provides an extra layer of protection while your baby’s immune system is getting stronger.

Delaying the first bath helps baby:

  • Have more bonding time during the important first hours.
  • Keep warm.
  • Keep blood sugar stable.
  • Start breastfeeding easily.
  • Prevent infections and form immunity.
  • Bond with mother.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

In the event your baby is born prematurely or develops complications after birth, our Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is available to provide the high level of care your baby needs.

Visitors & Security

Your visitors are welcome any time. We encourage you to remind friends and family that moms need rest and nursing care, especially during the first few days after delivery.

The childbirth center is equipped with a state-of-the-art security system to ensure you and your baby are receiving care in a safe, secure environment.

Please ask your family and friends to call the childbirth center reception desk at (425) 688-5326 to determine your location following your baby’s birth.

If you're planning on visiting, please learn more about how to determine the room number and location of the mother and baby.

For safety and to protect patients' privacy, we do not allow visitors to linger in hallways. A waiting area for family and friends is located near the reception desk. Family and visitors can also visit Stanzas Café, Starbucks and the Atrium Café while they wait. Directions to and hours of operation for these facilities are available at check-in. Please do not leave children unattended. 

Newborn Photos

Bella Baby Photography is available in our childbirth center to take portraits of your newborn and your family during your stay. Click here for more information.

Overlake Medical Center & Clinics