St. Joseph Breidegam Family Birthing Center offers personalized approach
After taking a tour of the Penn State Health St. Joseph Breidegam Family Birthing Center, Kelsey Seyler quickly decided that was where she wanted to deliver her first child.
“It doesn’t even look like a birthing center. It looks like a hotel,” says Seyler, whose son was born two years ago. “It felt more comfortable, more like home.”
Moms and their support person stay in the same room during labor, delivery and recovery. Each room also includes a whirlpool tub that can be used during labor or after delivery, something that appealed to Seyler, whose goal was to deliver naturally.
Kimberly Hunter, the center’s OB nurse navigator, serves as a personal concierge for moms-to-be. “I provide an added layer of education and support for a woman throughout her entire pregnancy,” she said.
Hunter suggested that Seyler join the St. Joseph Centering Pregnancy program, offered at both the Downtown Campus and Bern Campus. Expecting moms are placed in a group of eight to 12 other women due within the same month, and they attend group sessions until it is time to deliver.
“It’s a way of streamlining and centering care in a group model. The women absolutely love it,” Hunter says.
Learn more on the St. Joseph blog “Our Passion, Your Health.”
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