BEAUTIFUL BEGINNINGS
Your Stay & Discharge
Preparing for your stay
Admission to the Hospital
After speaking with your healthcare provider and being
instructed to come to the hospital, please come directly to
Beautiful Beginnings, Labor and Delivery, third floor, Alt Building
between the following times:
Monday through Friday - 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Weekends and Holidays - 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
At all other hours, please come in through the Emergency entrance
and you will be instructed what to do.
Insurance Information
In most cases you need to inform your insurance company of your
pregnancy so they can pre-approve your hospital stay. Failure to do
this may result in the insurance company denying
coverage.
Under normal circumstances, most insurance providers allow for a
48-hour or two day length of stay after a vaginal delivery and
96-hour or four day stay after a cesarean birth. Notice of Your
Rights will explain the law affecting length of stay for
delivery. However, if you still have questions, please
contact your individual insurance carrier.
If you do not have insurance an feel that you may have a
financial problem, please contact our Business Office at 978
922-3000, ext. 2207 prior to delivery.
Accommodations
Beautiful Beginnings at Beverly Hospital has a home-like
atmosphere. You will begin in Labor and Delivery, located on the
third floor of the Alt Building, which consists of eight private
rooms in which you will deliver your baby. After delivery, you will
be moved to our Mother-Infant Unit on the fourth floor where under
normal circumstances you will have a private room. We provide cots
for the father of the baby or support person to spend the night if
desired. On occasion, because of the number of women in labor, we
may have to utilize our semi-private rooms.
Newborn Medications
Massachusetts Department of Public Health requires that all
infants receive Hepatitis B Vaccine, Vitamin K, and eye ointment
shortly after birth.
Visiting Hours
Visitors should be free of any illnesses (i.e. colds, flu or
contagious diseases).
General visiting hours are from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and 6:30
p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The father of the baby, significant other/partner, grandparents
and siblings of the baby may visit at anytime. Visitors arriving
after 8:00 p.m. must enter the hospital through the Emergency
entrance. The father of the baby or significant other/partner will
be given a band to wear. This special band will provide Security
with the information needed to allow them to visit after
hours.
Phone Calls
Information about your condition will not be given to anyone. We
recommend that you make arrangements and identify one person for
all your relatives and friends to call for updates about your labor
or delivery status. This way there is only one person who will be
checking in with you during your labor.
Cell phones cannot be used in Labor and Delivery but can be used
on the fourth floor Maternity unit.
Photographs and Videotaping
Videotaping is allowed following the birth of your baby in the
privacy of your own room in the Maternity unit on the fourth floor.
Please ask the staff if they would mind being videotaped prior to
filming.
During the delivery process you may take photographs or still
pictures if you like, but we regret that videotaping is not
permitted. To protect the privacy of other patients, no
videotaping, photographs or still pictures are permitted at the
Nursery window or in the hallways.
Discharge Needs
On the Day of Discharge
You and your baby will be seen by your individual healthcare
providers usually between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Once they have
deemed that both of you are ready for discharge, your nurse will
complete the necessary paperwork and discharge instructions with
you.
You will need to have an appropriate car seat for your infant.
It is a Massachusetts law that all infants and children be
restrained in a car seat. Since there are many models of car seats,
we recommend that you read the instructions and practice installing
the car seat in your vehicle prior to the birth of your baby.
If your baby is under 5 lbs., you will need a special car seat
designed especially for low weight infants. We suggest that
you keep the car seat boxes and receipts just in case an exchange
is needed.
You will need appropriate clothing for the weather for both you
and your newborn (i.e. t-shirt, stretch suit, sweater, coat, hat,
and blanket).
Lower Anchorages and Tethers for CHildren
(LATCH), has information about standardized child
restraint anchorage system.
