Ready for the Most Important Job of Your Life?

We are here to help!  Whether you just found out that you are expecting or you are almost ready to deliver, St Luke's Open House is a great place to start!

In the main Emergency Room Parking Lot, and then just south of the Main Hospital Entrance....



You will find the Children's Specialty Center:





The Open House is in the 2nd Floor Lobby, so come up the elevators & join us!!!

 Once a month we all gather to welcome you to our Open House!    

We are here to visit with you, answer questions, and help you feel comfortable with your care while you stay with us and continuing after you are discharged home.

This is a life long commitment and we are here to help!

 Meet, interview, and visit with OB-GYN Doctors & Nurse Midwives who practice at our hospital.

You can visit with Genetic Counselors from our Maternal Fetal Medicine Team.

 

Meet Neonatologists from our NICU, and Pediatricians to help you make the best decision for the care of your baby!

Lactation Certified Nurses are available to answer questions about breastfeeding.

 Come learn about the classes offered by Birth & Parenting - 

You have a Question?  We have a class for that!!

Meet with one of our financial planners!

And learn about car seat safety.  Come and talk to our expert!

Eat a snack.....

the veggies & dip are great and the fruit & cheese are nice too

but the fudge brownies with chocolate chips are my personal favorite!!

TOURS

Organized tours are coordinated with our Open House, and are offered three additional times each month.  They meet in the main lobby of the hospital at 5:30pm and 6:30pm.  The dates and time for this informative tour can be found on the St Luke's website.

http://www.stlukesonline.org/classes_and_events/boise_and_meridian/pregnancy/tour.php

Come and see our facility and meet the nurses who work here and will be part of the team providing care for your family while you stay with us on your big day! 

You will learn about what to expect, you will see where to check in. 

You will visit our Labor & Delivery Unit where delivery happens, Mother-Baby Unit where you will bond with your little one, and view the Newborn Nursery which is available to you if you choose.  

We will discuss what you might consider packing and what we already provide, how to order food, how long you can anticipate your stay to be.  

See where our operating room is (just in case).  We will show you what your visitors can expect and where they can wait when they are not right in the room with you.  And so many other things that are helpful for you to know when the big day arrives!  

We believe that the more you know and plan ahead, the more in-control you feel as you help to guide decisions about your care and the care of your baby!  We are on your team!

We are here to welcome you because we want your baby's story to 

begin at St Luke's!

All In Due Time.......

Just off the elevator on the 2^nd floor, triage is the first place our patients and their families stop.  Our unit clerk is the first to welcome you to our unit.

Triage is a challenging place to work, and you never know what you may hear or see.   Most of the time it is a place to meet our patients, provide education, encourage healthy choices during pregnancy, and support labor dreams and goals.  Occasionally it does turn into a place of prioritization when patients present having critical needs.

 

I have seen patients who are not sure if they should even be seen: but every time you move you uncontrollably gush large amounts of fluid and have to keep a towel between your legs?  Or patients who would like to answer my questions but every 2-3 minutes you can’t talk and breathe at the same time - you are contracting.  You definitely should be seen.

What would a good pregnancy story be without the occasional false alarm? 

If every patient that came to triage was obviously in labor there would not be a need for triage.  But sometimes you just are not sure what is going on – did your baby just shift positions and hit your bladder?  Or are these consistent and uncomfortable cramps really labor or just miserably annoying?  We don’t know until we see you either.  That’s what we do – that’s what we are here for.

In order to assess your situation we welcome you and a guest into one of our triage rooms.  These are not large, spacious rooms because we don’t anticipate extended stays here in triage. 

But we do want to figure out what is going on and know that both mom and baby are doing well.  

We will place a fetal heart monitor on to give us information to help us understand if baby is tolerating the situation as well or better than you are.

We will also place a monitor to visualize contractions.  This monitor only tells us how far apart the contractions are and how long they are lasting – it does not tell us how strong they are – we need you to help us with that information.

Not all contractions will change your cervix – and thus just because you are having some contractions does not automatically mean you need to be admitted.  Just like you would not run a marathon without training first, your uterus muscle also needs to “warm up” or practice a little before the big event. 

What can you do at home?  Here are some insider hints I would suggest:

Drink WATER.  Hydration may slow your contractions, but if it does they were probably not going to change your cervix any time soon.  A hydrated uterus contracts more effectively and efficiently.   Since it is football season I like to use the example that these athletic men occasionally drop to the field and cannot stand or walk on their own when their muscles are dehydrated and cramp.  YOUR UTERUS IS A MUSCLE TOO, and needs to be hydrated or those “cramps” can be extremely painful…..and you will feel like you need help off the field!

Take a Warm Bath.  If you relax in a warm tub and your contractions continue (while drinking a lot of ice water)…..then come and see us for additional assessment!  We have Jacuzzi tubs available in every room because laboring women tend to relax in water.  Learning to relax during labor helps your uterus to work better and that baby to descend easier. 

If you are early in your pregnancy or concerned for any reason, please don’t delay your trip into our triage.

Change position.  If you are uncomfortable, and your muscles are hurting, then move.  Hands and knees is a great way to get that baby off the nerves in your back that can really be quite painful.  It is also a great way to get the baby to find the best position for delivery.   Go for a walk but don’t wear yourself out.  Heat and ice are great at relaxing sore and stretched muscles.

Leaking Fluid?  If your water is broken the risk of infection goes up for you and for baby and admission to the hospital is recommended.  We like to see labor start within a few hours of your water breaking.  If it does not start on its own, then we can discuss with you the risks, benefits, and side effects of all options to decrease the risks associated with prolonged rupture.

Still concerned or uncertain?  Come in or call your doctor.  We all work as a team throughout your pregnancy to keep you and your baby safe.  Pregnancy is not predictable.  Trust me, we know and understand that things change quickly and what can be normal one minute can be very different and even scary the next.  If you are concerned, so are we.  It does not matter if you have been just a little worried for a day or two or you just left the office or the hospital and something just does not seem right, come in, come back!  We only get a snap shot of what is going on in your pregnancy during the moment while you see us – we will always take another look!

Butterflies & Heartbreak

October is National Perinatal Loss Month.  It is this month every year that my thoughts return to some of the most memorable moments of my entire career.  Although each delivery is beautiful, special and unique, it is often the ones that are the most heartbreaking that leave a forever mark on my heart.   

A Labor and Delivery Nurse’s perspective?  When a mother steps onto our unit worried about decreased fetal movement, every member of our team holds their breath, waiting to hear and see the fetal heart beat appear on the monitor.  For most mothers it does, but for those who have experienced the devastating silence of a heart no longer beating, I hope you know that in that moment a stillness descends on the entire unit as well.  A reverent moment is shared without any of us having to say a word, as each of us pause what we are doing in somber understanding of grief and loss.  For those who are already aware of loss, we anticipate your arrival with heavy hearts. Quiet respect is shared for you as well as for those who are chosen to provide that tender care for your family during your stay.

With a little reminding, I can recall almost every delivery I have ever had the privilege of attending.  However, it is those that share their most raw and difficult journey through delivery that I am able to recall specific details and moments with very little effort. 



Share of Idaho is a support group for those who have lost a baby. The willow tree planted near the chapel entrance of the hospital gently reminds me, each time I pass, that the care I am prepared to provide should the need arise, is priceless and the only time some will get to share with their precious and anticipated little one.

Jennifer Jonely, our Perinatal Palliative Care and Loss Coordinator, has an absolute passion and love for families experiencing loss.  She is our contact for St Luke's Butterfly's Embrace service, which is designed to assist families through their individual journey by providing compassionate support from diagnosis through decision-making process, into bereavement and beyond.  Our care and memory does not begin or end at the doors to our unit.  

Jennifer shares that the most important feature of care for families is to instill hope where previously there seemed to be none.  Hope is shifted from all the dreams a new parent experiences, to hope that their baby will live on in their hearts and in the hearts of others for a lifetime.  Hope that even though their baby's life was brief, it was meaningful and can still be celebrated.  

On October 15th, consider joining the International Wave of Candlelight to cross the world in memory of our beloved children gone too soon.  Everyone is encouraged to light a candle from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in their own time zone. I will be lighting a candle as I remember and celebrate my own loss, as well as the life of those I met just briefly but who made such a profound impact on me.

I also encourage you to check out the Facebook group supporting our local community: St Luke's SHAREing TEARS Perinatal Loss Support Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/552565631510255/

or contact Jennifer Jonely, St Luke's Perinatal Palliative Care and Loss Coordinator directly @ 381-1807