By Cindy Krischer Goodman | cgoodman@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel
Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood has unveiled its new $68 million birthing center with private rooms, modern technology, partner lounges and a staff of specialists for every birth complication imaginable.
The Family Birthplace in Memorial opens as the state's birth rate wanes, mirroring a national decline that hit a record low in 2023. However, doctors at Memorial see the trends in their health system, revealing that high-risk deliveries are rising. Mothers are older, rates of obesity and chronic illnesses are higher, and there is an increased use of fertility treatments. All contribute to higher pregnancy risk.
The 60,000 square feet of space on the fourth floor of the hospital in Hollywood is designed to draw expectant mothers with uneventful deliveries as well as those facing conditions such as preeclampsia, placenta accreta spectrum, and gestational diabetes.
"We can help the sickest of the sick, those mothers with complications because of our multidisciplinary approach to medicine," said Jane McCarthy, director of nursing at Memorial Regional Hospital Family Birthplace. When a mother is identified as high risk, teams of doctors meet daily to review the treatment plan and often include pediatric specialists from neighboring Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital.
McCarthy says most of the high-risk births are women who have cardiac issues or babies born with cardiac problems. "We have the subspecialties to care for them," she said.
When it comes to high-risk pregnancies, Memorial Regional has become known for its specialty in treating women with placenta accreta spectrum, a condition where the placenta grows too deeply into the wall of the uterus. "It often happens after a C-section and can increase your risk of complications," explained Laurie Scott, a maternal-fetal specialist at Memorial Healthcare System. "If you can identify it early, you can plan ahead and reduce the risk to the mom." While relatively rare, Memorial has treated 62 women with this complication.
In the new maternity care space, all new mothers recover in private rooms with a couch for family or friends, a refrigerator and a spa-like bath. Pregnant women who need to be admitted weeks or months before giving birth and monitored by specialists can do so in a private room. There are also meditation rooms and a simulation lab for doctor training.
Dr. Timothy De Santis, chief of obstetrics for Memorial Healthcare System, looks forward to working in the new space. He belongs to a group of five obstetricians with offices at Memorial Regional Hospital who often treat patients referred by other local doctors. "OBs out there want someplace to send their moms whose pregnancies are complicated," he said. "They may need neurology or hematology or maternal fetal medicine and we work with all of those."
The new Family Birthplace will always have at least two staff OB-GYNs from his team on call at all times, De Santis said. That relieves pressure on community obstetricians who deliver babies at the hospital and often burn out from deliveries at all hours. "That's important because we need to keep more OBs."
The health system also has nurse midwives on its high-risk pregnancy care team, who will use the expanded and redesigned birth center. "There's a huge desire to deliver by midwife and a need to do so in a safe environment," De Santis said.
Expecting mother Megan Didier of Hallandale Beach, 26, looks forward to being among the first to deliver at Memorial's Family Birthplace. Her first child, a boy, is due March 25.
"I'm nervous to be honest," she said. "But I am also happy I won't have to share a room. I can be alone with my husband and my baby. And just in case there's a problem, I know I will be okay here."