Preparing for your delivery

• Arrange for someone to bring you to the hospital. Plan for parking.
• Arrange for your partner or support person to stay with you throughout your hospital stay.
• Arrange for child supervision and pet care during your hospital stay. Talk about the visiting guidelines with your friends and family.
• Make a list of important phone numbers (the Pregnancy, Birthing and Newborn Centre, your doctor or midwife, your support person, etc.). Keep the list somewhere easy to find.
• Arrange for someone to drive you home.
• If using a motor vehicle, have a Canadian motor vehicle safety standard-approved baby car seat put together and practice with it so you know how to use it.
• Buy the things you will need when you get home:
  • Sanitary napkins or maxi pads
  • Newborn diapers
  • Formula and equipment (if you are formula feeding)

What to bring for pregnant person

• Required identification:
  • BC Care Card (Medical Services Plan Card)
  • Government issued photo identification such as driver’s license or passport
• Baby’s Best Chance: Parents’ Handbook of Pregnancy and Baby Care. Bring your own copy to use. We refer to this book when we go over what you need to know before going home.
• Any items of cultural/spiritual significance
• Camera and video camera
• Music and music player
• Slippers or shoes
• Housecoat
• Extra pillows
• Underwear
• Personal care products such as shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant
• Sanitary napkins or maxi pads. Bring enough for your hospital stay and your trip home
• Loose fitting clothes to wear home

What to bring for baby

• Diapers for going home
• Baby clothing for going home
• Two receiving blankets
• A blanket to go home
• A baby car seat – Canadian motor vehicle safety standard approved. The car seat needs to be for a newborn and the right size for your baby. Please put together your car seat and learn how to use the car seat before taking your baby home.

What to bring for your support person

• Pajamas
• Housecoat
• Slippers or shoes
• Snacks and food – there is a refrigerator for you to store food. Make sure that you label and date your food. Be SURE to take any leftovers home with you.
• Sleeping bag
• Pillows
• Bathing suit – for use in the shower or bath during labour
• Personal care products – such as shampoo, toothpaste, tooth brush, deodorant

Please do not bring:

• Large suitcases
• Large sums of money and/or credit cards
• Jewellery

Your first stop is typically the Assessment Room. We will check to see if labour has started or review any concerns you or your care provider have. After the nurse checks you and your baby, they will contact your care provider who will recommend if you should stay in the hospital or go home. The Assessment Room has two beds and a shared bathroom.

Some of the reasons you may be seen in the Assessment Room:

• You think you are in labour
• You think your water has broken
• You feel like your baby’s movements have slowed down or have stopped
• You are having some bleeding or unusual pain
• You have had an accident that may affect you or your baby. In this case, you may need to stay in the hospital for several hours.
• Your doctor or midwife has some concerns about you or your baby and would like more detailed assessment in the hospital.

You would stay in the Antepartum Room if you have medical problems during your pregnancy and need closer observation and care before your baby is born. This room has two beds with a shared bathroom. Because this is a shared room, your partner or support person is not able to stay overnight.

Some of the reasons you may need to stay in the Antepartum Room:

• High blood pressure that is not going down at home
• Contractions before your due date
• Placenta is too low

If you have a collection kit from Inception Lifebank, Healthcord or Cells for Life, hospital lab staff will come to you and take the blood. The staff on the unit will call and arrange for this to happen. Please just advise staff that your intention is to have your cord blood collected, prior to your delivery.

If you have a collection kit from a company other than the three blood banks listed above, you will be asked to pay a $40 collection fee before the sample is drawn. This payment can be made at any point during the admission, and can be facilitated by your support person by going to the cashiers desk and obtaining a cashiers receipt. Once the receipt is obtained hospital lab staff will come to you and take the blood.

Due to the nature of cord blood retrieval being a personal decision that’s made possible through a service that is outside of the hospital, please reach out to your collection kit company prior to coming to the hospital for your delivery if you have any questions.

Please note that while our intention will absolutely be to honour your wishes to have your cord blood retrieved, the nature of each delivery is different and it may be that the conditions or timing of certain situations will not be conducive to a sample being taken. 

We provide meals for all patients. Our food service team will deliver a continental breakfast and a soup/sandwich style lunch. We serve dinner from our standard menu with hot entrée options. Before dinner service, a member of our food service team will visit you to take your food order. Please let us know if you have special dietary needs.

We have a nutrition area where we keep juices, milk, sandwiches, and bread for pregnant people and new parents. This area also has a toaster, microwave and kettle for families to use.

Visitors and support people are welcome to bring food. There is a refrigerator for patient food storage. Be sure to label any food you put in the refrigerator and take it home with you when you leave.

The hospital cafeteria is on the 4th floor. We also have vending machines just outside the cafeteria. The cafeteria offers meal service:

• Monday to Friday from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm
• Saturday, Sunday and holidays from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm

There are several restaurants in the neighbourhood that offer takeout food and some offer delivery service to the hospital. Please ask for the menu binder at the nursing station.

There is a television in each room. We offer educational programs on channel 61. Here, you can watch useful programs related to postpartum health and infant feeding. These are free of charge. There is a charge for cable TV. A TV attendant comes around each afternoon to set it up. They accept cash or credit card.

Mobile phones may be used in your room unless we specifically ask you not to. Please do not use your mobile phone in the hallways as it might disturb others. In other areas of the hospital, please check posted signs to see if mobile phone use is okay. Free wifi is available for all patients.

Family and friends are asked to clean their hands before and after they arrive and when they leave. Hand sanitizing stations are available at the entrance to the Pregnancy, Birthing and Newborn Centre and in the hallways. We ask everyone – all staff, volunteers, visitors and patients – to clean their hands:

• Before eating
• Before feeding your baby
• Before picking up your baby
• After using the toilet
• After changing your baby’s diaper

When you are admitted to the Pregnancy, Birthing and Newborn Centre, we give an identification bracelet to you and your partner or support person. Please wear the bracelet the whole time you are in hospital.

After your baby is born, we put identification bands on the baby’s wrist and ankle that have your last name. We put matching bracelets on both you and your partner/support person. We use your last name to identify the baby and support person in the hospital.

Everyone should keep these bracelets on until you leave the hospital. We check the bracelets before you go home to make sure they all match.

The safety and security of your baby is a major concern for all of us. You are the best security your baby has. To help keep your baby safe and secure in the hospital, here are some things you can do:

• NEVER leave your baby alone in your room. Never leave your baby lying alone on your bed.
• Always arrange to have someone watch your baby if you cannot.
• When you want to have a shower and no one is there to watch your baby, close your room door. Leave the bathroom door open and put your baby in the bassinet. Pull the bassinet into the bathroom doorway or right into the bathroom.
• When you walk in the hallways, push your baby in the bassinet.
• Do NOT let anyone take your baby away from your room. If your baby needs a test or procedure, it should be done in your room. If the test needs to be done somewhere else in the hospital, you or your support person should go with your baby.
• Everyone working in the Pregnancy, Birthing and Newborn Centre and for Providence Health Care is required to wear a picture identification badge. You can ask to see it. If you have any concerns about anyone, ring for your nurse right away.
• If the fire bell goes off at any time, return to your room and wait for the staff to tell you what to do.

• We are a scent-free zone. This applies to parents, babies, visitors and staff.
• We are a latex-free unit. We ask that you do not bring latex balloons due to severe airway allergies. Mylar balloons ARE permitted.