Labor and Delivery

When you’re expecting a baby, choose Wayne UNC Health Care for excellent labor and delivery care for you and your newborn. Your friends, family, and neighbors in and around Goldsboro, North Carolina trust us with their childbirth experience because we deliver nearly 1,500 babies every year.

Childbirth and Breastfeeding Classes

Prepare for labor and delivery with prenatal and breastfeeding classes at Wayne UNC.

Make a Birth Plan

A written birth plan is an optional document expressing your preferences for care during labor and childbirth. Talk with your doctor for guidance while you develop a birth plan. If you have a birth plan, share it with us when you arrive at the hospital in labor. Your childbirth care team at Wayne UNC will work to meet your preferences and provide a safe delivery for you and your baby.

Signs of Labor

Late in your pregnancy, you may feel belly tightening that comes and then goes away. These are most likely Braxton Hicks contractions and not true labor pains. Learn more about contractions during pregnancy, including preterm labor, Braxton Hicks contractions, and active labor pains.

Talk with your obstetrician (OB) about what to do if you have an emergency during pregnancy. Our emergency room has trained staff available 24/7 to care for you, if needed.

When You’re in Active Labor

Contact your OB-GYN office when you’re in active labor for instructions on when to come Wayne UNC. When you arrive, you’ll receive instructions on what to do and our staff will show you where to go.

Doulas, Midwives and Support During Childbirth

Support during labor and delivery can help you have a positive birth experience. While in labor, you may have three people at your bedside for support and encouragement. During delivery, you can have two support people present. We don’t allow children under 13 years old on the labor and delivery unit.

You may choose a doula, midwife and a partner or support person to be with you during labor and delivery. Doulas give nonmedical support to you before, during and after childbirth. Your personal doula is welcome in the delivery room at Wayne UNC.

If your OB office offers midwifery services, you can have a midwife present during your delivery. Midwives offer maternity care for low-risk, vaginal births to women and newborns.

If you’re a military family with a spouse or partner away, you can video chat after your baby’s delivery.

Pain Management During Labor

Select one or more methods to ease your discomfort as you progress through labor, including:

• Nitrous oxide (laughing gas)
• Intravenous (IV) pain medication
• Epidural anesthesia

Helpful Labor Management Techniques

Find a range of techniques to relieve discomfort, manage contractions, and progress labor. You and your partner may choose:

• Birthing and peanut balls
• Breathing techniques
• Positioning
• Relaxation methods

Bond With Your Newborn

Connect with your newborn right after vaginal or Cesarean section birth. Our care team supports the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for skin-to-skin care during the first hours of life. Skin-to-skin care is contact and cuddling with your baby on your chest. It improves parental bonding and supports breastfeeding in pre- and full-term newborns.

Rooming In

You’ll “room in” with your baby during your stay at Wayne UNC. That means you and your baby will share a room instead of sending your newborn to the nursery. Rooming in:

• Promotes mother-baby bonding
• Helps you become comfortable caring for your baby
• Allows you to get to know your newborn’s feeding cues
• Makes breastfeeding easier

Delivery Recovery and Well Baby Care

While you receive recovery care from a labor and delivery nurse, a “stork nurse” tends to your newborn in your room. Expect your newborn to get routine screenings and blood tests. After labor and delivery recovery, you and your baby will move to the Mother-Baby Unit.

If your newborn needs special attention after birth, you’ll have access to our neonatal care team in the Level II NICU at Wayne UNC.

Breastfeeding Support

Trust our certified lactation consultant to provide breastfeeding education and assistance. Look for a lactation nurse to visit you in your room during your stay. You can ask questions and get help so you feel comfortable breastfeeding your baby when you go home. Our lactation consultant or breastfeeding-trained nursing team is available 24/7 to assist you.

Ongoing Breastfeeding Help

Take advantage of handheld and electric breast pumps at Wayne UNC to learn how to use one. There’s no need for you to bring a pump with you; find breastfeeding support for home and work from a nurse before you leave the hospital.

Learn more about breastfeeding classes and resources and support.

Cord Blood Banking

If you want to bank your baby’s umbilical cord blood immediately after birth, you should obtain a cord blood collection kit. Bring your kit to Wayne UNC when you come for your delivery. We’ll collect it for you.

Secure Care for You and Baby

Feel confident you and your baby will be safe at Wayne UNC. Security is in place on the locked labor and delivery and mother-baby units to provide a safe experience to you and your family. And your newborn receives an ankle identification band immediately after birth.

Mother-Baby Unit Visitors

Enjoy overnight stays with one guest (your spouse, partner, or family member over age 18) in your room at Wayne UNC. You’ll also appreciate our visiting policy that allows siblings (any age) to visit their new baby brother or sister. However, there may be times—such as peak flu season—when we need to restrict visitors for health reasons.