The Lakewood Ranch Women’s Center provides a family-centered approach to care with a personalized birthing experience.
Planning for your baby starts well-ahead of your delivery and includes a one-on-one visit with our birth designer to help you create your own birth plan. Throughout your entire hospital stay — from labor and delivery to postpartum care — you will be in the same private suite, and the hospital will make every effort to keep you with the same nurses (as schedules allow). Other special features and services include:
- A neonatologist available 24 hours a day, and a Level 1 nursery in the event your baby needs specialized care.
- Obstetric nurses who are highly skilled in labor support and family-centered nursing.
- A personalized rooming-in experience for you and your baby, with sleeping arrangements available for your partner or support person.
- Breastfeeding support from nurses and lactation specialists during and after your hospital stay.
- A “celebration meal” for you and your partner (with your choice of items from a special menu), and daily tea and pastries at 2 p.m., followed by quiet time from 2 to 4 p.m.
- Infused water (cucumber, lemon, mint) for you and your loved ones to enjoy in your suite.
- Multiple free* childbirth and parenting classes.
* Core Prenatal Classes are free for patients who are delivering at Lakewood Ranch Medical Center. You may still incur a fee for the Ancillary Classes per the discretion of the instructor.
Register for a “Preview Night” where you can learn more about our services and tour the Labor and Delivery area.
Meet Our Birth Designer
“My role is to help educate expectant mothers and their support team on the tools they will need to stay safe and healthy during their prenatal, delivery and postpartum periods. Everyone — doctors, staff and patients — is involved with the birth plan constructed for each individual.” – Chrissy Coney, RN, BSN, CLC
Topics Coney discusses with expectant moms range from whether they’d like aromatherapy or music in their room, to different birthing positions and pain management alternatives. For example, women don’t have to decide between just going natural or having an epidural. The hospital also offers other choices, such as limited-mobility epidurals, which allow for more movement, and nitrous oxide, a gas inhaled for relaxation during labor which is very safe for both the mom and baby, Coney explains. Learning about the different options and challenges that can arise helps expectant moms feel empowered and prepared in case they need to adjust their plan during labor and delivery, she says.
Lakewood Ranch Medical Center was first in the community to offer a birth designer program. “It’s been wonderful,” says Coney. “So far, every person I’ve met with has just been so excited about the program.”
Save the date! Lakewood Ranch Medical Center and Sarasota Moms Blog are co-hosting the Ultimate Baby Shower on Saturday, February 1, 2020, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Mall at University Town Center. Get more information.
Introducing Our Newest OB/GYN
“For me, being an OB/GYN has always been about the relationship with my patients. It’s really important, especially for women to have someone you can talk to and confide in.” – Felicia A. Wagman, MD
Dr. Wagman recently moved to Lakewood Ranch after practicing for 16 years in Dallas. She is the first OB/GYN to join Lakewood Ranch Medical Group and provides care for women throughout all stages of life, including pregnancy and childbirth.
As a mom herself of a 5-year-old, she has personal insight into the joy and challenges of parenthood and the different health issues that women face.
“I think the birth experience at Lakewood Ranch Medical Center is special because it gives women the opportunity to be more involved in the decision making,” she says. “This helps create an amazing birth experience and beautiful memories.”