KSBY

Posted: Jun 16, 2010 1:12 PM
Updated: Jun 16, 2010 9:13 PM

Some hospital rooms are starting to look more like hotel rooms.It is a trend taking off across the nation, including right here at home.

Take Twin Cities Hospital in Templeton, for example, where moms are delivering babies in style. With amenities like flat screen TVs, DVD players and stereos this is not your mother's birthing room.

When the time comes, doctors lower lights from the ceiling and moms give birth in this same room. "So patients can feel more at home and more comfort. We tried to bring in a home birthing experience to the hospital," said Twin Cities' Director of Maternal Services, Shareen Taylor, R.N.

The hospital also offers a labor tub as an alternative to pain medication complete with candles, a CD player and aroma therapy. And when its time to bond with baby, there are new, private rooms with new TVs, DVD players and showers.

"Sometimes we had to share our room with another patient and we had smaller room space and we had to go down the hall for a shower, it wasn't as peaceful as it is here," said Nicole Maduena who gave birth here at the new center on Friday, but also gave birth in the old center.

The amenities have delivered as the hospital said birthing rates have gone up, since the new maternity ward was born.

In 2008, the first year it was in full use, the number of babies delivered at Twin Cities Hospital went up almost 8 percent, the next year it went up 13 percent and this year the hospital is averaging 66 babies a month, putting it on track for a 20 percent increase.

These statistics coincide with those from the National Bureau of Economic Research, which says an increase in amenities increases a hospital's demand by 38 percent.

Other hospitals in the area are also catching on to this trend. French Hospital Medical Center just finished remodeling it's birth center and will also start offering a special room service. Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center is in the midst of remodeling its birth center. The rooms will include flat screens TVs and WiFi. Marian Medical Center is building a new hospital that will feature a Women's Center with state-of-the-art labor and recovery rooms that will each have a jacuzzi bath tub.

It is the next generation of maternity rooms, giving birth to a whole new experience.