A look inside the Wollongong Hospital Birth Suite
Wollongong Hospital’s birth suite was newly upgraded four years ago through co-design with mothers and based on research of optimal birthing environments in hospitals.
Better Births Illawarra worked tirelessly with Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District to make the birth suite an optimal birthing environment. Women and babies deserve the best, safest feeling birth space - outside a home environment - in which to meet each other for the first time.
Here’s a look inside the fabulous new Wollongong Hospital Birth Suite following its $2.2 million, six-month renovation project.
Birth Suite Entrance
Evidence shows a birth environment that is designed to feel safe and calm is less disruptive to the flow of the hormones that drive labour than one that is foreign and fear-inducing. The birth suite entrance features welcoming signage in multiple languages, an architecturally designed curved welcome desk that reflects the shape of a pregnant woman, and a soft look and feel with wooden-aesthetic flooring and a comfortable waiting area.
Seven birthing rooms
There are seven rooms, all with private ensuites and all designed to maximise the space a woman has to labour actively and utilise a variety of birthing props. Because of the different sizes of the rooms, each room looks a little different. Read on for the full low down.
Birth baths
The birth suite is equipped with two beautiful, custom-designed birth baths for use during labour and birth. The baths are wide and deep to facilitate movement and upright postures, with multiple grab rails to allow for different positions in the tub. They are quick-fill and are heated to keep water at the optimum temperature for birthing mamas.
Evidence shows that water immersion during labour and birth results in more vaginal births, fewer C-sections, episiotomies and epidurals, less use of synthetic oxytocin and shorter active labour. Women are able to move more freely with their body weight supported in the water, receive natural pain relief in warm water, and report feeling a greater sense of privacy and personal space during the birthing experience.
In addition to the custom birth baths, there is a third domestic bathtub in one of the ensuite bathrooms.
Better Births Illawarra would like to acknowledge that, in the ideal world, every room in the birth suite would have a birth bath. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned restraints on the floorplan and variability of the size of the rooms, not every room was large enough to accommodate the baths while also providing floorspace for active labour and use of other birth equipment.
Bereavement room
The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District consulted with the Illawarra Baby and Child Loss Support Group to design a more compassionate bereavement room that is sensitive to the needs of families. This sound-proofed room is thoughtfully positioned and has a variety of comfort measures to support women and their families.
Better Births Illawarra is delighted that women of the Illawarra now have access to a beautiful and functional birth space whose design and equipment has been informed by the latest evidence. Illawarra women choosing to birth in hospital are now more empowered to create the birth experience that feels right for them.
Double shower heads
The shower is a favourite place to labour and birth for many women, with hot water serving as a natural pain reliever. Every room has a spacious private ensuite with double shower heads for simultaneous front and back pain relief.
Medical equipment
Evidence shows a birth environment where medical equipment is on display can cause the birthing woman fear and anxiety, which can interrupt the flow of the hormones that drive labour and lead to increased medical intervention. While the refurbished birth unit still has medical equipment within easy reach – including five new state-of-the-art neonatal resuscitation machines – it is now stowed away within the cabinetry. The rooms now have a clean, inviting look that welcomes a woman to make the space her own. She can push the bed to the side of the room if she wants to create more space for movement and use of props and equipment.
Lighting, sound, temperature and colour
Lighting levels, sound, temperature and colour all impact the flow of oxytocin in labour, which is why every room in the birth suite is designed with adjustable lighting including in the ensuite, independent temperature control, a Bluetooth sound system and double blinds for the control of natural light. The colour scheme is neutral and natural, with curved painted details for a softer, less clinical appearance.
Birth props and equipment
Birth props are available to you in hospital or in homebirths. This includes birth stools, fitballs, peanut balls, beanbags and even the hospital birth towels that easily transform into a tool to assist a baby into the pelvis (wee image 3 in the gallery). Each of these pieces of equipment can be harnessed to help labour progress naturally by facilitating movement, pelvic opening and upright labour and birth postures.
Birth props are often NOT offered as staff are busy and active birth is not a hospital policy. (!) You or preferably your support person or doula needs to ask for any props you want to use.
Since 2016, Better Births Illawarra has advocated for the rights of Illawarra women to access birth props when labouring and birthing in hospital.
Rebozos
Suspended from the ceiling in two rooms via hooks engineered to hold 300kg are lengths of handwoven fabric known as rebozos. A rebozo is traditionally a piece of cloth or shawl worn by women in central and southern Mexico, that has become a tool in Mexican birth culture and is now used across the world. The rebozo can be used by a labouring woman to hang, sling and squat with much of her body weight supported and her pelvis relieved of pressure to better allow the baby to progress downward. The drive to hang is observed in many women as they transition to the second ‘pushing’ stage of labour, and the rebozo is a fabulous tool to allow women to do just that.
Rebozo dangles from engineered ceiling hooks at Wollongong Hospital