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Special Care Obstetrics
Special Care Obstetrics is a 30-bed inpatient unit at Good Samaritan Hospital that specializes in caring for women with high-risk pregnancies who require additional care and may need to spend extra time in the hospital. Depending on the circumstances, expecting mothers can be admitted into Special Care Obstetrics anywhere between six weeks and full term, making a typical stay range from hours to weeks.
Services
We treat patients with a wide variety of conditions. The most common reasons patients visit Special Care Obstetrics are:
- Clotting disorders
- Diabetes
- Discordant growth - when two or more babies compete for their respective shares of the placental blood supply
- Gestational diabetes - pregnancy-induced diabetes
- Group B streptococcus (GBS) - a type of bacteria that can be found in up to 40 percent of pregnant women that shows no symptoms, but may be life threatening if it is passed to the baby
- Hyperemesis - prolonged nausea and vomiting to the degree of dehydration and malnourishment in pregnant women
- Pregnancy-induced hypertension - chronic high blood pressure
- Incompetent cervix - a cervix that begins to thin out and/or open too early in the pregnancy
- Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR)- when your baby is small for his or her gestational age
- Monoamniotic twins - when two babies share the same amniotic sac and placental blood supply
- Multiple gestation (pregnancy) - when you are pregnant with more than one baby
- Oligohydramnios/polyhydramnios - when there is not enough amniotic fluid surrounding the baby, which could the umbilical cord to become more compressed and decrease the blood flow to the baby
- Placental abruption -
when the placenta has pulled away from the uterine wall, causing heavy vaginal bleeding and the baby to not get enough oxygen
- Placenta previa -
when the placenta lies low and partly or completely covers the uterus, causing the placenta to pull away from the cervix and cause heavy vaginal bleeding
- Preeclampsia/HELLP Syndrome - high blood pressure beginning with pregnancy that can affect body organs and may cause face and hand swelling and, if not treated, could lead to seizures; HELLP Syndrome occurs when preeclampsia worsens to the point that blood pressure injures the blood vessels and red blood cells, causing plasma to leak and body organs to swell
- Preterm labor -
when labor starts more than three weeks before your baby is due
- Premature rupture of the membranes -
when the membranes holding the amniotic fluid around the fetus rupture or leak during pregnancy or before labor, possibly exposing the baby to germs in the birth canal that may cause infection
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- Urinary tract infections
- Vaginal infections
Additionally, we offer services provided by the Fetal Care Center of Cincinnati for the most serious pregnancy complications, including those that require fetal surgery.
Ongoing care and testing
Since monitoring your condition is especially important during your stay in Special Care Obstetrics, we conveniently are linked with the Seton Center for High-Risk Obstetrics to provide scheduled appointments, usually twice a week, to check on you and your baby’s progress throughout the duration of your stay. These tests could include:
- Alpha-fetoprotein/maternal serum screening
- Amniocentesis
- Amniotic fluid index
- Biophysical profile
- Chorionic villi sampling
- Cordocentesis
- Cultures
- Doppler flow studies
- Echocardiogram
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- Fetal fibronectin test
- Fetal movements/kick counts
- Fetal monitoring
- Fluorescence in situ hybridization
- Glucose challenge test
- Glucose tolerance test
- Lab work
- Non-stress test
- Ultrasound
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While hospitalized, you may need to be referred to a maternal-fetal medicine specialist to direct your care and/or if around-the-clock neonatology services would be helpful.
If you were transferred from another hospital, you may be able to return to your original hospital and physician at about 32 to 34 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the health of you and your baby. Your maternal-fetal medicine specialist and your original physician will decide if you meet the criteria to return to your referring hospital.
If you give birth at Good Samaritan Hospital, your baby may be able to return to the referring hospital when his or her condition is stable. The neonatologist, pediatrician and you will make this decision.
Your stay in Special Care Obstetrics
Special Care Obstetrics offers a variety of amenities to make your visit more enjoyable for you. We offer private rooms (assigned by medical necessity or on a first-come, first-served basis) as well as semi-private rooms, all of which include televisions with DVD/VCR players, CD players and some with personal refrigerators. If you are placed in a sem-private room, you may request to be put on a waiting list for a private room. We continue to add more private rooms to better serve you.
We also offer wireless Internet access, books, puzzles games and more at your request. And to ensure you can be with your family as much as possible, we have felxible visitation policies, including allowing you children to visit. Hospital visiting hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but may vary in Special Care Obstetrics. No visitors are permitted to stay overnight in semi-private rooms. All children must be with an adult, other than the patient, at all times. Visitation may be restricted during flu season or for other safety concerns.
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