Many women spend hours planning their birth experience. They do the research and plan the details. But it’s hard to know what will happen after baby is born, so here are a few insights about baby’s first day on earth.
Right from birth, our goal is to get your baby up to your chest and be skin-to-skin with you as soon as possible. We want to let you have uninterrupted time with your baby for at least the first hour (The Golden Hour). We encourage you to inform your visitors who are waiting in the hallway, or even in the room with you, to let you and your baby have alone time. You’ll never have that time back, so soak up every last minute you can! In that first hour we are able to give your baby their Vitamin K injection and the erythromycin eye ointment while they are snuggled up close to you.
After skin-to skin, one of our nurses will do a full physical assessment on your baby. This is when we get the much-anticipated measurements. We also get a couple sets of footprints from baby and a few fingerprints from you. Remember to bring your baby book so that we can get a few prints in there during your stay!
Once we are done with those things, we want you to have as much quality time with baby as possible. We encourage you to “room-in” with your baby. That means keeping your baby in the room as much as possible so you can get to know your baby’s feeding cues and much more! Of course, we also have a nursery in case you need some uninterrupted rest.
During your baby’s first day Earth side, we will give you a wonderful in-room bath demonstration. This will give you a front row seat to our swaddle bath and lets your baby enjoy their bathing experience without causing them to get too stressed out. Have those cameras ready. You don’t want to miss out on pictures of their first bath!
Another important part of your baby’s stay with us is the newborn screenings. We do the Critical Congenital Heart Defect (CCHD) pulse oximetry screening, hearing screening, metabolic screening, and a bilirubin test. These tests are typically done once your baby is at least 24 hours old. More information on these screenings will be given to you during your stay or you can find information at this link.
Having a baby is an amazing and joyous time! We want you to feel prepared and ready for this huge event in your life. We look forward to taking care of you and your sweet bundle of joy here at Aspirus St. Luke’s Birthing Center.
*This is a typical timeline of events once your baby is born. Please be aware that there may be variations.
Aspirus St. Luke’s Birthing Center is located in Duluth, MN, with Aspirus St. Luke’s clinics in the surrounding region, including Superior, WI. To schedule a tour of Aspirus St. Luke’s Birthing Center, call 218.249.5605.
