FAQs
To help you prepare for your baby’s arrival at Sequoia, here are the most frequently asked questions about our Birth Center.
Birth Center FAQs
- For listings and of classes and to register for all classes, visit our Class and Events page, or call 650.368.BABY, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Our Health & Wellness Center offers a variety of prenatal and postpartum classes to prepare for childbirth and parenthood.
- A Labor & Delivery Orientation Class is designed to help new and experienced parents prepare for their stay at Sequoia Hospital.
- Complete the pre-admission form on the Admitting & Online Registration page anytime during your pregnancy to save time and be better prepared for your visit. For questions about pre-registration, call 650.367.5551.
- The main entrance, off Whipple Avenue, is open 24 hours a day.
- Free parking is available in the parking structure, also off Whipple Avenue.
- Complimentary valet is available Monday through Friday, 5 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Several options are available, and anesthesia is available 24 hours a day.
- Anytime during your labor, an anesthesiologist can discuss pain relief options with you.
- Moms who deliver at Sequoia will deliver in a Labor/Delivery/Recovery suite.
- After recovering from delivery, moms will transfer to a private postpartum room for their remainder of recovering and stay until they go home with their newborns.
- Healthy babies are cared for right in the home-like room and stay with their new families as much as desired.
- Yes, we offer skin-to-skin care. This provides a unique opportunity for initial bonding with your newborn baby within the first hour of birth. While skin-to skin-care is especially beneficial in facilitating breast feeding, non-breastfeeding parents are also encouraged to participate in this special time.
- For vaginal deliveries: This begins immediately after birth. Newborn birth medications, weight/length measurements, and first bath are performed after baby’s first feeding/bonding time.
- For cesarean deliveries: At birth there will be a quick examination before the baby is placed on mom’s chest for skin-to-skin care. While the baby waits in the nursery for mom’s arrival in the recovery room, weight and length measurements, assessment, and newborn care are performed. Baby will soon join mom in the recovery room, where skin-to-skin care resumes.
- If your baby is premature or requires intensive care, your newborn will be cared for on site.
- Our Level II NICU is a six-bed special care nursery within our Birth Center. This NICU is staffed by doctors and nurses from Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford who specialize in neonatology care.
- Yes. We offer couplet care, which means that your baby stays in the room with you.
- Birth Center visiting hours are 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Quiet Time is strongly encouraged for our patients beginning at 8:30 p.m.
- Please limit visitors to four people at a time.
- All visitors must wash or gel their hands before and after visiting patients.
- If you have a fever or cough please do not visit.
- The most important thing to bring is an approved infant car seat, properly installed in your car.
- You will also want to bring a going-home outfit for the baby and perhaps a receiving blanket for extra warmth. As a special gift, Sequoia provides a newborn outfit.
- Sequoia will provide whatever is needed for the baby during your hospital stay, i.e. diapers, t-shirts, blankets.
- Yes. If you choose to breastfeed, our hospital staff is well trained to help you get started.
- Lactation consultants, who are registered nurses and International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC), are available for breastfeeding support during your hospital stay.