You’re excited … and so are we! At Providence Family Maternity Center, we welcome more than 4,800 babies into the world each year, and we can’t wait to meet yours, too.

Our Family-Centered approach to care provides a nurturing environment for growing families and is designed to ensure that we are providing the safest care and environment for you and your newborn.

In the Providence birth center, we offer 59 patient rooms with a bathroom and large tub. We also provide a sofa for your support person and birth balls to help facilitate labor. Two cesarean birth operating rooms are centrally located for necessary C-sections and more challenging deliveries. If your baby needs specialized medical attention, our Level III NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) stands ready to provide state-of-the-art care.

Welcome to Providence Women's and Children Pavilion. Watch our virtual tour to learn more about the services offered and amenities we provide to ensure the safest care in a nurturing environment.

Nothing is more important to us than your health and the safe delivery of your baby. Whether your pregnancy is simple or complex, our experienced providers and staff will take excellent care of you. We offer a full spectrum of maternity and birthing services, including:

• Antepartum care
• Maternal Fetal Medicine for high-risk pregnancy
• Cesarean deliveries
• External versions for breech presentation
• Twin/triplet deliveries
• Vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC)
• Lactation and postpartum clinic

We support all feeding preferences and are here to help. Our experienced, board-certified lactation nurses are here to help you establish and promote exclusive breastfeeding, adequate milk supply and to identify and correct any issues or barriers to breastfeed your baby successfully. Our lactation consultants are here to support you during your hospital stay and after you go home.

We know how terrifying it is if your baby is born prematurely or has serious medical issues. At Providence, we offer highly-specialized care in our Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Providence Regional Medical Center.

Our NICU, operated in partnership with Seattle Children’s Hospital, provides the most intensive level of care north of Seattle for critically ill or unstable newborns. Our neonatal nurse practitioners and other specialists are on site 24/7.

The unit features 29 private single-patient rooms and three double rooms for twins. All the rooms in our NICU are designed to accommodate you and your family so that you may participate actively in your baby’s care.

During your hospital stay, you'll receive forms for a birth certificate and a Social Security number for your newborn. Learn more about these important documents.

We offer a variety of classes to help you prepare for delivery and parenthood, including courses on childbirth, breastfeeding, fathering, infant safety and infant CPR.

Register by selecting a class below or call 206-386-2502.

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the leading cause of death among infants between 1 month and 1 year of age.

To help protect your baby once you get home:

• Keep your baby in your room at night, but in the baby’s own safety-approved crib or bassinet - never your bed
• Always put your baby on their back for sleep
• Avoid putting pillows, blankets, toys or other items in your baby’s bed
• Avoid putting your baby to sleep on furniture such as couches or chairs
• Don’t routinely allow your baby to sleep in bouncy seats, infant carriers, swings or strollers.
• Don’t use sleep positioners, like foam wedges or tubes, with your baby
• Keep your baby away from all smoke
• Make sure your baby gets regular checkups, and follow the doctor’s recommendations
• Prevent your baby from overheating during sleep

Most people understand, and a wealth of scientific evidence shows, that breast milk is the best possible source of nutrition for infants – especially babies born prematurely or with a low birth weight. Mother’s milk offers babies very important health benefits, including lower incidence of asthma, allergies, severe lower respiratory tract infections, childhood leukemia, SIDS and many other diseases.

What happens when the mother of a baby can't breastfeed, or can't produce the amount of milk her baby needs?

There is an alternative to baby formula that is far more nutritious: milk from a human milk bank. A donor milk bank is a service established to collect, screen, process and distribute donated human milk. Donor milk banks accept milk from lactating mothers who have undergone careful screening, similar to the way blood banks screen donors. The milk is donated to a central milk bank for processing, then is made available for purchase by hospitals and individuals for feeding sick and fragile infants.

Consider donating your extra milk to help sick and fragile infants. The Human Milk Depot at Providence Regional can help send your milk where it is needed most.

If you meet the requirements below or need more information, give us a call at 425-258-7140. We will guide you through the screening and donation process.

• Donor's baby is less than one year old
• Is in good health
• English or Spanish speaking
• Non-smoker and no use of any nicotine products
• Negative blood test for viruses (prenatal results are not used)
• Using no medications during the time milk is collected for donation, except:
  
  • Vitamins and minerals, food supplements
  • Progestin-only birth control
  • Replacement hormones: insulin, thyroid
• All donors have small amount of blood drawn, free of charge

For more information about human milk banking in the United States, visit hmbana.org.