Family Birth Center - Dignity Health - St. Mary Medical Center

In-person tours of our family birth center are available on the fourth Wednesday of every month, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Please call (562) 491-9000 to schedule a tour.

Our perinatal clinic offers a wide range of testing and services to expectant mothers. These services support a healthy pregnancy and help you make informed care decisions for you and your developing baby. 

Services include:

• High-risk pregnancy care from UCLA perinatologists who work directly with your doctor to help manage complicated pregnancies

• Prenatal and antenatal testing

• Genetic screening and counseling

• Ultrasound

• Non-stress testing (NST)

• Amniotic fluid index (AFI)

• Amniocentesis

• Rhogam injections

The most important item to bring with you is an approved infant car seat. You may also want to pack an outfit for your baby and a receiving blanket. We provide all other necessary items for your baby during your stay, including diapers and blankets. 

However, you are welcome to bring anything that will make your stay more comfortable, including: 

• Comfortable clothes to wear home (maternity clothes)

• Driver's license or ID card, insurance card, and pediatrician and OB/GYN contact information

• Flip-flops

• Lip balm

• Nightgowns

• Nursing bras and nursing pads

• Personal electronics and chargers

• Personal toiletries

• Snacks

• Swimsuit and a change of clothes for your birth partner

You’ll welcome your baby in one of our spacious, comfortable delivery suites. Then, you’ll recover in a private room in our postpartum unit. We encourage immediate skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding.

At St. Mary Medical Center, we keep mothers and babies together during the hospital stay to encourage bonding opportunities. Skin-to-skin bonding often:

• Causes your uterus to contract and bleed less

• Comforts and soothes baby

• Gives baby better oxygenation and blood sugar levels

• Promotes feelings of closeness and protectiveness

• Provides a quiet time for your new family to connect

• Stabilizes baby’s temperature and vital signs

• Stimulates milk production and provides the best opportunity to get breastfeeding off to a good start

Under your care provider's guidance, we support all birthing options and honor your birth plan when possible. Birthing options include:

• Natural childbirth (without pain medication)

• Vaginal birth

• Cesarean birth

Our labor and delivery nurses help you learn to breastfeed your baby and make sure you feel comfortable feeding your baby before you leave the hospital.

Through our Welcome Baby program, you may get continued breastfeeding support from a registered nurse and parent coach after returning home.

St. Mary Medical Center’s Level IIIB NICU provides advanced care for premature and medically fragile babies. Your baby receives care from a team of skilled specialists, including:

• Neonatalogists

• Neonatal nurses

• Respiratory therapists

We provide 24/7 life-sustaining care that supports your baby’s development. Our team encourages parents and caregivers to visit their baby in the NICU to promote growth and bonding.

All women who give birth at St. Mary’s Medical Center may receive optional services from the Welcome Baby program. The program benefits new parents and their families with community connections, emotional support, education and supportive resources.

As a program participant, you receive personalized services from a registered nurse and parent coach, including:

• A postpartum hospital visit

• Maternal and newborn screenings

• Breastfeeding support

• Home visits until your baby is two or nine months old

There is no cost to families to participate in this program. To learn more about the Welcome Baby program, or to sign up, call (562) 491-9100.

You can choose a pediatrician by asking your obstetrics and gynecology doctor or asking family and friends. You can also use our Find a Doctor tool.