Norton Healthcare delivers more babies in Louisville and Southern Indiana than any other provider. Our dedicated labor and delivery team is committed to providing you with the best possible care during your childbirth journey. Different caregivers will see you during your stay with us. Each will play a different role in your care.

Your Care Team

Labor and delivery nurse. A labor and delivery nurse will monitor you and your baby — and provide support along the way. The nurse will communicate with your provider as labor progresses and monitor your baby as you dilate. You may have the same nurse during the entirety of your labor, or you may have a few different nurses monitoring you over a period of time.

Anesthesiologist. An anesthesiologist may be present to give medicines should you decide you want help managing pain during labor (for example, an epidural, spinal block or other medications). Norton Healthcare has the region’s only anesthesiologists dedicated exclusively to obstetrics.

Doctor, midwife, OB/GYN hospitalist. Once you’re ready, a medical staff person will be there to deliver your baby. This may or may not be the OB/GYN or midwife you’ve been seeing during your pregnancy. It will depend on whether your practice rotates on-call providers, or other factors. Norton Healthcare has an OB/GYN hospitalist program staffed by hospital-based doctors who provide inpatient and emergency care for women in labor and delivery. OB/GYN hospitalists can examine you, evaluate the progress of your labor, review test results, monitor your baby’s heart rate, deliver your baby and address any unforeseen issues that may arise.

OB technician. An OB technician may come into the room just before delivery to set up for the doctor or midwife. He or she also may assist the doctor or midwife.

What to Expect from Norton Women’s Care

More mothers in Louisville and Southern Indiana choose to deliver their babies at Norton Hospital or Norton Women’s & Children’s Hospital than with any other hospital system in the area.

We deliver more than 8,000 babies a year. We’re close to you with more than 90 providers at more than 25 locations around Louisville and Southern Indiana. Choosing Norton Women’s Care gives you many options for how delivery day could go — all with the confidence of knowing that our obstetrics and pediatric specialists are there to help. With Norton Women’s Care you’ll find:

• The birth experience you want. You can choose natural childbirth, a midwife, labor tub, nitrous oxide and other birthing options. We’ll recommend a C-section (cesarean section) or induced labor only if it’s medically necessary.
• Preparation. Our specialists offer the support you need, including free Lamaze and other childbirth classes, new parent classes, breastfeeding support, child safety classes and more.
• Confidence and quality in care. Norton Women’s Care has been recognized as High Performing — the highest rating available — for maternity care with fewer complications and C-sections, plus breastfeeding support and other benefits.
• The highest level (Level IV) neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Louisville and Southern Indiana at Norton Children’s Hospital, and a sophisticated Level III NICU at Norton Women’s & Children’s Hospital.
• Around-the-clock OB/GYN care at Norton Hospital and Norton Women’s & Children’s Hospital emergency departments.
• Board-certified maternal-fetal medicine specialists who can help guide you through a high-risk pregnancy, from preexisting diabetes to a fetal echocardiogram to diagnose a congenital heart defect before a baby is born.
• Convenient access to your medical record. Communicate with your health care provider, get lab results, renew prescriptions and more through your free MyNortonChart account.