Your journey to motherhood is one of life’s most precious times. Say hello to your new little one.
When it's time to say your first hello to your baby, do it at St. John's Regional Medical Center. Our experienced team combines technology and comfort to assist and support you through the birth of your child. From prenatal care to post-partum support, St. John's has something to offer.
Where you choose to deliver your baby is one of the first big decisions you’ll make as a parent. See for yourself why St. John’s Family Birth Center is the perfect place to welcome your new bundle of joy.
To schedule an in-person Maternity Tour, please call us at (805) 988-2784.
St. John’s Regional Medical Center is proud to house the ONLY Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Ventura County with all 20-private suites, twice the size of our previous NICU. Our state-of-the-art facility is equipped with the latest technology and offers additional capabilities and comforts for both baby and family. Our experienced team of health care professionals offer a full range of specialized services to care for the tiniest of patients.
Maternal-fetal medicine is a type of specialty care for women with high-risk pregnancies. Your doctor may recommend a maternal-fetal medicine specialist (often called an MFM doctor) to provide you with personalized care until you give birth. An MFM doctor is an OB/GYN doctor with advanced training in caring for women and their unborn babies during a high-risk pregnancy.
At Dignity Health, providing maternal-fetal medicine is a team effort. It involves your doctor and specialists who work together to ensure you have a healthy pregnancy and a safe delivery.
We know you’re filled with anticipation, excitement, and questions about what to expect before, during, and after your baby is born. At St. John's Regional Medical Center, we help you live a whole-hearted life by providing a variety of classes and resources to support your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Find out when you can join us, below.
We promote the health of mothers and newborns by supporting breastfeeding. Our Lactation Services Team includes certified lactation consultants and lactation educators who offer breastfeeding education, support and counseling so that breastfeeding can be a rewarding experience for both mother and baby.
After your baby arrives, we provide quiet time known as The Sacred Hour in Labor and Delivery. Your baby will be placed skin-to-skin to get to know you. It is the time for introductions and first, “oohs and ahs,” the counting of fingers, toes, and trying to figure out hair and eye color. No matter if you have a vaginal delivery or a cesarean section, we will do our utmost to ensure that your baby gets the best start possible and help you to enjoy skin-to-skin contact safely and for as long as you’d like.
Every expectant mom needs peace of mind knowing she’ll receive the best possible care when the big day arrives. That’s why we offer 24-Hour Obstetrical and Gynecological Services.
Board Certified OB Laborists remain on-site 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to provide consistent care when an obstetrician is unavailable or en route to the hospital. They treat patients in the hospital, and provide emergency care to those arriving in Labor and Delivery regardless of time, complication, circumstance or insurance status.
Pregnant women should have complete trust in the quality of care provided by their entire care team during their Labor and Delivery process. Ensuring sufficient pain management throughout labor and delivery is absolutely essential. You can have complete confidence in the expertise of our facility's Board Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA), who are available on-site 24/7, every day of the year. Their presence ensures immediate access to epidurals and emergency care, providing mothers with the assurance that their comfort and safety are our top priorities.
At the St. John’s hospitals’ Maternity and Birth Center, we offer each mom-to-be a private suite where you and your labor partner can await your child’s birth in a comfortable, safe and private setting. Each LDR suite is specially outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment. All of our nurses have advanced fetal monitoring education and are neonatal resuscitation certified.
Two fully-equipped cesarean section (C-section) suites are located within the Labor and Delivery Unit, providing you and your physician the comfort of knowing that the suites can be accessed immediately, if necessary.
Our private Mother-Baby suites are designed so that your baby can be with you during your entire stay. This special time together gives you an opportunity to get to know your baby’s cues within an intimate, nurturing environment. Each private room includes partner seating/sleep furnishing, a bathroom and shower. If your baby requires phototherapy for jaundice during your hospitalization, your baby will not be separated from you, and phototherapy will take place right in your room.
Aromatherapy is available to moms during labor to help with relaxation.
For your convenience, wireless internet is available throughout our facilities.
We want your birth day to be focused on you. That’s why we ask expecting moms to complete all of the necessary registration paperwork in advance. Please complete the pre-admission application by your seventh month—or return it with the necessary information to the Admitting Department by mail or in person.
It is our desire that you and your new baby have a safe and happy experience at St. John’s Regional Medical Center.
It is important that you familiarize yourself with the standards for care of healthy newborns nationally because these guidelines are upheld at our hospital. The standards are based on current recommendations of both the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and are reviewed in Guidelines for Perinatal Care. Some of these elements of care are also recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and some are required by law in the State of California.
The following are the standard procedures recommended or required for all newborns:
Antibiotic ointment (usually erythromycin) is placed in the baby’s eyes within 1 hour of birth to prevent an infection called gonococcal ophthalmia neonatorum. This treatment, which is required by California state law, may cause the baby’s eyes to temporarily appear cloudy; however, the medication should not be washed or cleaned out of the eyes.
Vitamin K is necessary to help blood clot, and levels of this vitamin are naturally low in newborns. To prevent vitamin-K dependent hemorrhagic disease of the newborn (bleeding that could cause brain damage or even death), every newborn should receive a single injection in the upper thigh of vitamin K within 1 hour of birth. The baby may experience mild, brief pain or mild redness, swelling or tenderness with the injection. Oral administration of vitamin K has not been shown to be as effective as intramuscular injection.
The CDC now recommends that universal immunization against Hepatitis B begin in the newborn period regardless of whether the newborn has been exposed to Hepatitis B or not. This involves an intramuscular injection. The baby may experience mild, brief pain or mild redness, swelling or tenderness with the injection.
Newborn screening is required by California state law as a preventive public health measure, and if not done, “death or permanent handicaps for affected newborns could result.” The newborn screen detects several uncommon metabolic diseases as well as abnormal types of hemoglobin such as sickle cell and others. “If you have religious objections to testing, you may say ‘no’ to testing in writing and sign a form advising you that your hospital, doctor and clinic staff are not responsible if your baby develops problems because those disorders were not identified and treated early.” Newborn screening requires a heelstick blood test, which may cause mild, brief pain to the baby. (Language taken from California Newborn Screening Test Request Form, DHS 4409.)
The goal of the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program is to identify infants with hearing loss prior to three months of age and to link infants with early intervention services by six months of age. Studies show that hearing loss occurs in approximately 2-4 out of 1000 babies, but hearing loss is often not identified until 18 months to 3 years of age, which may result in delayed speech and language development. There are two methods that may be used to perform this legally required test of your newborn’s hearing. Either one can be performed while the baby is asleep or quiet and does not require the infant’s participation. Sounds (tones or clicks) are played through small earphones and responses to the sounds are automatically measured. Both tests are quick, painless and non-invasive. Occasionally, babies with normal hearing will not pass the first screening test and in those cases, it will be repeated.
The CDC recommends that when mothers who are colonized with Group B streptococcus do not receive antibiotic treatment during labor, their babies undergo testing to determine their risk for acquiring this potentially deadly infection. This involves a venipuncture to obtain blood samples, which may cause mild, brief pain to the baby.
Please take an opportunity to discuss these standard treatments and tests with both your obstetrician and your pediatrician. Also discuss measures for minimizing the pain your baby may experience with these procedures. After full discussion, if you decide you do NOT want your baby to have any or all of these routine procedures, you will be asked to sign a form indicating that you refuse to permit this standard medical treatment and that you accept the risks to your baby associated with your refusal.
A birth plan is a written document that outlines your preferences for labor and birth. Whether you have just an idea of what you want your birth plan to look like, or you’ve got it all planned out, Dignity Health can help make your labor and delivery experience the best it can be.
Most people use the term natural childbirth to refer to the process of going through labor and birth without the use of pain medication or other medical interventions. There are a variety of reasons why a woman would choose to pursue a natural childbirth.
A vaginal birth is one in which the baby passes through the birth canal, or vagina. It is the usual, natural birth process, and babies are typically delivered vaginally unless your doctor finds a medical reason for delivery by Cesarean section (C-section) instead.
A cesarean birth is surgery to deliver a baby through incisions in the mother’s abdomen and womb. At Dignity Health, a cesarean birth is considered when your doctor feels it is the safest delivery option for the mother, the baby, or both.
If you have had a cesarean delivery (also called a C-section) before, St. John's supports your decision to deliver your next baby vaginally. When medically indicated as safe by your physician, the option of vaginal birth after previous cesarean delivery is now available to you. This is called vaginal birth after cesarean, or VBAC. Our certified nurse-midwives are specialists in vaginal birth after cesareans and have received national recognition for their success in this procedure.
For more information or to find a physician, please call the numbers below. Or use our search tool to Find a Doctor.
Details & Directions: St. John's Regional Medical Center's Family Birth Center.
