Patient Care

Having a baby is a very special time in your life. Our caring and highly trained bilingual OB physicians and midwives work in concert with our on-site maternal fetal medicine specialists to make sure you and your baby receive the high quality, compassionate and comprehensive care you deserve.

We offer preconception counseling, advanced preconception carrier testing, perinatology (high-risk pregnancy), pregnancy-related diabetes and teen pregnancy services along with modern fetal evaluation in a variety of convenient sites. We also coordinate care with social workers and mental health specialists when needed.

Education is at the cornerstone of our obstetrics program. Through the childbirth education experience, we offer women and their partners the chance to learn more about the birth option they choose. We expose patients to the latest trends in learning through online classes and other electronic media. Families have the chance to learn at their own pace in the privacy of their own homes. We encourage expecting mothers and their partners to start with the program early during the pregnancy and learn what they can expect to see and feel in the weeks and months ahead.

We facilitate modern childbirth, vaginal birth after c-section (VBAC), and perinatal education utilizing suggested electronic resources and a new “Meet the SBH Maternity Care Team” event for you and your partner. This features educational presentations about childbirth, anesthesia options, and neonatal and pediatric services, and includes refreshments and a tour of our newly renovated facilities.

Labor and Delivery Service
Our labor and delivery unit has recently undergone renovation. Our spacious birthing suites include free telephone and television. Our labor and delivery room offers physician and midwifery care models; a Jacuzzi for labor; high-tech wireless fetal monitoring that allows for greater mobility for high-risk pregnancies, a full scope of anesthesia options, and an on-unit operating room should the need arise.

We are proud of our ability to boast low caesarian section rates, the VBAC option for clinically appropriate patients, top-of-the-line safety statistics, and a family-friendly setting. We strongly support immediate post-delivery mother-baby bonding in our Level III obstetrical unit and offer a Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), with neonatologists on-site 24 hours per day for babies born prematurely or in need of close supervision.

Postpartum & Antepartum Service
Our unit provides coordinated mother-baby care with 24-hour rooming-in, referral to our outstanding pediatric staff, osteopathic manipulation services when needed, and compassionate care by our physician, midwifery and nursing staff. Our nurses strongly support early initiation of breastfeeding and we are focusing our efforts on becoming a “baby friendly” designated breastfeeding center. We strive to provide single occupancy rooms with accommodations for significant others. We provide neonatal education, a free framed photo of your newborn, and a special gift for our new mothers and their newborns. We recently launched a new program providing highly effective long acting contraception (IUDs and Nexplanon subcutaneous implants) immediately postpartum.

Without your written permission SBH cannot share your information with anyone who will sell you products or services, and SBH cannot sell your information to anyone. If that occurs please call SBH’s HIPAA Privacy Officer at 718-960-3389.

Maternal fetal medicine, or perinatology, refers to the specialized care of pregnant women and their fetuses that are considered high risk. Our multidisciplinary team of experts use the latest technology and data available in working with expecting mothers who may be at risk for any one of a number of different reasons, from their age (whether teenage or over 35) to their prior medical history.

We care for women with any one of a number of different conditions that could threaten a successful pregnancy and delivery. This includes:

Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Preeclampsia
Metabolic diseases including diabetes (both pregestational and gestational types)
Infectious diseases (to include parvovirus, toxoplasmosis, hepatitis, HIV, and AIDS)
Platelet alloimmunization (NAIT or FMAIT) (e.g., Rh negative mother sensitized to an Rh positive fetus)
Lupus
Poor past obstetrical history (e.g., past preterm deliveries, preterm labor, preterm cervical dilatation, premature rupture of membranes, repetitive pregnancy loss)
We also care for women with multiple gestations, or where there may be indications of birth defects or growth problems with the fetus.

Many women are drawn to SBH Health System by our outstanding midwifery program.

Midwives are trained to see childbirth as a normal, healthy event – although a common misconception is that women choose midwives only if they want a “natural” or unmedicated childbirth. While assisting in natural childbirth is one of the strengths provided by our midwives, our primary goal is to help you make informed choices.

The profession itself dates back to ancient Egypt (and is mentioned in the Old Testament). Midwives became a mainstay in America shortly after the arrival of the Mayflower, often learning to deliver babies from their mothers who assumed this role in their village. The medical profession, however, felt sufficiently threatened by midwives to wage a campaign against them. Meanwhile, in other parts of the world, they were prosecuted as witches.

Today, midwives enjoy a new-found respect. The American College of Nurse-Midwives requires that midwives pass a national certification exam and, since 2010, hold a graduate degree.

The midwives at St. Barnabas Hospital are intimately involved in every stage of childbirth. This includes pre-pregnancy counseling, prenatal care, childbirth planning, labor support and delivery, postpartum care, breastfeeding support, and circumcisions.

Midwives favor avoiding procedures and medical interventions whenever possible, which has resulted in positive effects on the culture of our labor and delivery. For example, episiotomies – a surgical cut between the vagina and the rectum made during the final stages of labor and delivery – used to be standard. Now, it occurs in a small percentage of our births. This shift was due in part to the influence of midwives and the open minds of our doctors who work with them. There is also a higher chance of vaginal birth, a reduced risk of preterm birth, and a better chance of a successful start to breastfeeding, with greater satisfaction. They also have lower rates of labor induction and augmentation, a reduced incidence of serious tears, and less regional anesthesia.

In addition to evidence-based care with improved health outcomes, midwives’ high-touch approach – without sacrificing the most advanced medical care available – is associated with lower costs for patients and insurers. Research has shown that women cared for by midwives simply do better.

Many expectant families prefer to work with midwives for less tangible reasons. Midwives take time to listen. They believe that childbearing is normal and that every woman and her family should create the birth experience that is most meaningful to them.

Our midwives and doctors work together. If your pregnancy becomes high-risk or complications arise, you don’t have to stop seeing your midwife. You can continue to consult with your midwife as well as an obstetrician or perinatologist for management of any complications.
We have created an amazing team of midwives at SBH Health System. They hold graduate degrees from the profession’s most elite institutions and have worked in a range of different health care settings.

Recognized for the work they do in obstetrics, midwives also provide well-women care. They see patients for routine annual screenings and do pre-conceptual counseling, family planning, post-partum care, etc.

In addition to those services associated with having a baby, we offer a full range of gynecological care to women of all ages. Our ambulatory clinical staff offers expertise in primary care women’s health, cancer prevention and treatment, pre-conception counseling and contraceptive services, basic infertility care (and referral to affiliated experts when necessary), adolescent care, menopausal care and hormone therapy, minor office procedures, incontinence evaluations and therapies, etc. At some of our clinical sites we offer ultrasound, colposcopy, LEEP procedures, diagnostic and minor operative hysteroscopy, and hysteroscopic sterilization procedures.

Specialty Hospital-Based Care
These services include:

Major gynecologic surgery
Minimally invasive gynecologic surgery (including advanced laparoscopic and hysteroscopic procedures)
Female incontinence treatment
Pelvic floor surgery and rehabilitation
Emergency gynecologic care

It’s a common condition that many women never talk to their doctors about. As a result, the problem may go unaddressed for years – when there may be a simple solution.

Urinary stress incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine that affects millions of women, often during such physical activity as coughing, sneezing, laughing, sex or exercise. Stress incontinence is a defect in the muscles that support the bladder and bladder neck. It can be genetic or the result of trauma or childbirth, and while most common with older women, it also occurs to women in their 30s and 40s.

It is different than urge incontinence, where one loses urine for no apparent reason after suddenly feeling the need or urge to urinate. A common cause of urge incontinence is inappropriate bladder contractions often caused by abnormal nerve signals. Diseases and conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and injury or prior surgeries can also harm bladder nerves or muscles.

Treating Stress Urinary Incontinence
There are many treatment options for stress incontinence that are available at St. Barnabas Hospital. Certain patients with mild to moderate stress incontinence may obtain relief through medication. Pelvic floor muscle training (or Kegel exercises) and biofeedback and electrical stimulation that strengthen the muscles have also proven successful for some women.

Many women report success with a simple 15 – 40 minute procedure called a urinary sling, where a mesh material is inserted underneath the bladder neck to support it and prevent urine leakage by bringing the anatomy back to where it was before the damage. The procedure has an 85 to 95 percent success rate, and is viewed as a permanent solution for women who are no longer planning to have children.

The specialty of obstetrics and gynecology has progressed during the past century from the care of women only during their reproductive years to health care for women throughout their lifetime. As women age, they face a number of health-related issues, from osteoporosis to an increased risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. In many cases, these illnesses can be prevented or managed through lifestyle changes, regular screenings and good health habits.

Thanks to advances in health care, women can expect to live, on average, 80-plus years. As such, the average woman will spend at least one third of her lives during her postmenopausal years.

Our goal is to make these years as productive and healthy as possible. This involves issues related to primary and preventive care, including disease screening; nutrition; exercise; sexuality; immunization; safety; psychological issues; social and mental problems such as depression, dementia, and bereavement; domestic violence and abuse; and potential problems of drug interaction. In addition, those problems that can be managed by the obstetrician-gynecologist, such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT), management of urinary and rectal incontinence, pelvic floor dysfunction, and other gynecologic complaints of older women are addressed.