Labor and Delivery

All members of your health-care team are focused on you and your baby’s safety and your comfort during labor and delivery. We work closely with you to determine the best way to meet your baby.

Call Labor and Delivery at: (319) 356-2615

Getting to the hospital during Hawkeye football home games

Every birth is special. It is our privilege to care for you during your personal experience.

University of Iowa Health Care embraces the concept of family-centered care. Spouses and support persons are invited to participate in the child’s birth.

Choosing UI Health Care for your pregnancy care means having access to an expert care team, supportive pregnancy services, and a number of convenient prenatal care locations.

Types of Pregnancy Care Providers

All of our providers offer a nurturing, woman-centered approach to ensure each patient has an extraordinary experience, while receiving the highest level of care.

Our collaborative team is trained to provide care for women with normal, low-risk pregnancies, as well as women with complicated, high-risk pregnancies.

Obstetrician-gynecologists (OBGYN) are doctors who specialize in pregnancy, childbirth, and a woman’s reproductive system.

Family medicine physicians are doctors who specialize in comprehensive health care for people of all ages, including pregnant women, newborns and children.

Maternal-fetal medicine physicians are obstetricians who specialize in caring for women with high-risk pregnancies.

Certified nurse-midwives are advanced practice nurses who provides pregnancy care, as well as offers a range of well-women services.

Available as needed

Neonatologists works closely with maternal-fetal medicine physicians to offer prenatal consultation and attend all high-risk deliveries. Moms who deliver their babies here have peace of mind knowing that no matter what, families stay together and never need to be transferred to another hospital for more advanced care.

Our Facilities

Labor and Delivery Rooms

Our labor and delivery unit includes home-like, spacious birthing rooms and multiple surgical suites designed especially for cesarean birth. Features include:

24-hour anesthesia and surgical capability
Antepartum/postpartum whirlpool bath
Large blood bank in close proximity
Complete maternal-fetal monitoring
Dedicated ultrasound room, fetal and maternal diagnosis
Immediate access to Level 4 Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
Obstetrics faculty on site 24 hours per day
Wireless fetal monitoring system
Certascan, which captures baby's digital footprint after birth for enhanced safety and identification.

Nursery

We encourage you and your baby to bond in your mother-baby room. The nursery is used for newborn assessments, treatments, and other procedures your baby might need while in the hospital.

Postpartum Rooms

After delivery, you and your baby will stay in one of our family-friendly mother-baby rooms. Features include:

Private rooms
Custom memory foam beds in antepartum/ postpartum rooms
Internet access (in waiting rooms and individual rooms)
High level of security
À la carte menus available

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

Neonatology refers to the care of preemies or babies who are very sick. University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital is home to Iowa’s only nationally ranked neonatology program and Level 4 NICU—the highest level recognized by the American Academy of Pediatrics. This means that our NICU is equipped to care for the tiniest and most critically ill babies, offering the greatest range of neonatal services and support. In fact, our survival rates for babies born at 23, 24, and 25 weeks are significantly higher than survival rates for extremely premature babies born at other U.S. hospitals, placing our hospital among the top neonatal intensive care providers in the country. Neonatologists work closely with high-risk obstetricians to offer prenatal consultation and attend all high-risk deliveries. Moms who deliver their babies here have peace of mind knowing that no matter what, families stay together and never need to be transferred to another hospital for more advanced care.

Update to Labor and Delivery Entrance

To keep everyone safe, patients and visitors who enter the hospital are being screened for symptoms of COVID-19. The standard entrance to Labor and Delivery—at the south end of John Pappajohn Pavilion, on For The Kids Way—is now closed. However, there is a call button you may use to gain entry if you are in labor. Or, you may park in Parking Ramp 4 and use the skyway.