Our Birthing Center provides essential hygiene items for you and your baby during your stay at the hospital, but there are additional items you may consider bringing.
Make Your Stay More Comfortable
We recognize there is so much information that we share during your short postpartum stay, and we realize you may want to prepare prior to coming in to have your baby. We recommend reviewing the following resources to feel the most prepared for this upcoming experience.
What to Bring
Our Birthing Center provides essential hygiene items for you and your baby during your stay at the hospital. Here are additional items you may consider bringing:
Recommended items to bring for labor and delivery:
- Comfortable labor clothes
- Slippers/sandals
- Robe
- Phone charger
- Birth wishes
- Chapstick/lip balm
- Hair ties
- Hydrating beverages (if you have a favorite)
- Light snacks/gum
- Music and speakers
- Cooler for placenta (if you decide to take it home)
- Essential oils and aromatherapy
- Name of pediatrician/pediatric provider for your baby
Recommended items to bring for post-partum/hospital stay:
- Comfortable clothes/robe for in-hospital use
- Comfortable going home outfit
- Comfortable slip-in shoes (your feet may be swollen)
- If breastfeeding:
- Nursing bra or tank
- Breastfeeding pillow
- Have you insurance-covered pump delivered to your house. No need to bring to the hospital. We provide breast pumps.
- Toiletries/hair ties
- Snacks
- Make a pre-determined plan for care of siblings (no child under age 13 can stay overnight in the hospital)
- Two going home outfits (size newborn and 0-3 months)
- Car seat (ideally installed by a technician)
- Two baby blankets
- Diaper bag with supplies for your trip home
- Comfortable clothes and shoes
- Book
- Snacks
- Toiletries
- Medications/Tylenol (we cannot provide any medications to anyone other than the patient)
- Hospital gown
- Birthing balls, peanut balls
- Medications
- Water, juice, popsicles
- Light snacks
- Peri pads
- Ice packs
- Mesh underwear
- Meals for birth parent only (cafeterias are available for support people)
- Paperwork for the birth certificate and social security number
Parking
As a patient, you have several parking options.
Overnight Arrival
If you are arriving between 9 pm-6 am, please park in the Emergency Department lot and enter the hospital through the ED. The staff will assist you in getting to the birthing center. Your car will need to be moved to our parking garage once you have been admitted.
Daytime Arrival
If you are arriving between 6 am-9 pm, you can park in the hospital parking garage and walk up to the birthing center. Parking is priced per hour, with a $7/day maximum.
View detailed parking information
If you feel that delivery is imminent, park at the Emergency Department.
Arrival
The birthing center is located on McClure 7. When you arrive, you will be checked in and then taken to your room for evaluation. Once your nurse and clinician have had a chance to assess you and monitor your baby’s heart rate, you will be admitted or discharged (depending on your circumstances).
Visitor Policy
Currently, we welcome three people at the bedside with you at a time. If you have more than three people that you would like to be present for your labor and birth we have a waiting room for the support people of L&D patients where additional people can wait and rotate in to see you. We encourage you to thoughtfully select who you want present to minimize infection exposure to your new baby and to help you maintain an environment that is calm and supportive.
Siblings of a new baby are welcome on L&D. All children 12 and under will need to have an adult identified to be with them at all times.
If you have a doula working with you, this person does not count as the second support person. If you would like to work with a volunteer doula staffed by UVM Medical Center, please speak to your provider regarding this option. Please consider the intense nature of birth when deciding who you’d like present at your birth.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
Parents are welcome 24 hours a day. We encourage parents to be present for daily rounds, to actively participate and ask questions as well as help set goals for their baby every day. Please contact the NICU for specific guidelines.
Car Seat Safety
Our Child Passenger Safety Program provides education and outreach to reduce the risk of serious injuries or death in car accidents. Learn more about keeping your child safe.
