Yes, this helps us get ready for your big day! For pre-registration forms, please visit this link. Also, when you pre-register, you are automatically enrolled in our Get Well Health Education program.

Be sure to bring your photo ID and insurance card. For a full packing list, please visit this link.

During daytime hours, you may use valet parking. Beside the hospital, there’s a parking structure where parking is available for a small fee, or there is additional free parking by the outpatient center, south of the parking structure and with a free shuttle service. For emergencies, there are two parking spaces near the front entrance, marked for Birth Center patients.

Any time, day or night, enter the main entrance doors and check in with security. Then use the main lobby elevators to take you to the 8th floor. Someone will check you in there, and you will be taken to one of our labor and delivery triage rooms.

The pre-admission paperwork will be checked to be sure everything is correct. A nurse will take your vital signs, monitor your contractions and your baby’s heart rate and ask you questions about your health and pregnancy. If you have a copy of your prenatal records, it will be helpful to give those to your nurse. You may be admitted or sent home until the time is right to have your baby.

If you would like to have a birth plan, it helps us know you have thought about your options and have some ideas for how you would like your birth to go. We will do our very best to help you have the birth experience you desire. Our highest priority is a safe, healthy delivery for you and your baby. Think about things that may help you relax in labor, for example, music, sitting on a birth ball and/or dim lights. We can help you create the environment you like.

Our labor and delivery nurses are specially trained to help you through the labor and birth process. We offer aromatherapy, birth balls and squat bars to help. We do not have birthing tubs, but many patients find the showers with built-in seats comforting.

If you come to the hospital in labor, you will likely be in a triage room and then moved to a labor and delivery room. About 2 hours after your baby is born, you and your baby will be moved once more to a postpartum room. If you arrive for a scheduled induction, you will be admitted directly to your labor and delivery room. For a scheduled cesarean, you will be admitted to a room for pre-surgery, will have your baby in one of our operating rooms and will then return to the pre-surgery room to recover for 2 hours. After that, you and your baby will go together to a postpartum room.

In labor, you may have a total of 3 support people. This can be any combination of people who may help you through the labor process, for example, father of the baby, mother, sister, friend, doula or even children. It’s all about who will support you! After your baby is born, you may have up to 4 people with you at a time during regular hospital visiting hours. One person over the age of 18 may spend the night with you. Please keep in mind that while children under 18 are permitted, they need to be accompanied by an adult, other than the patient, at all times. For the most up-to-date visiting hours, click here.

All our rooms are private. You may have someone stay the night with you, and your baby will always stay in your room, unless there is a medical reason for a baby to be admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Your meals will be delivered to your room. Your support people may go to our café on the 3rd floor, Starbucks on the 1st floor or have a food delivery service delivered to the lobby.

All our nursing staff can help you breastfeed. We also have certified lactation consultants who may visit you at least once during your stay, depending on your needs and desires. We offer online breastfeeding resources and classes, as well as a postpartum support group. For details, please visit this link.

Typically, families stay 1-2 nights after a vaginal delivery and 2-3 nights after a cesarean birth. If it is your first baby, you are strongly encouraged to stay at least 2 nights. Your doctor/midwife or your baby’s provider may require you to stay longer depending on medical conditions.

Yes, talk to your doctor or midwife about who they recommend. You may also ask friends and family. Choosing a pediatrician before you arrive at the hospital will help speed up the process when you are ready to leave the hospital. We are required to provide your pediatrician’s name for important follow-up information from the hospital stay.

To speed up the birth certificate process, it is helpful to have already chosen a name for your baby. If you would like the father’s name on the birth certificate, and you are not married, a paternity form will have to be signed by the father. He will also need to present a photo ID. The birth certificate will be ready in approximately 4-6 weeks. For more information, you may contact the San Diego County Office of Vital Records at 629.692.5733. The Hospital Verification Letter provided is not a legal document. Immigration will provide you with information on how to cross the border without the baby’s birth certificate. The social security card will be mailed to you in approximately 6-8 weeks.

Yes. Please be sure you read the instructions and have your seat put together before coming to the hospital. We do not have people qualified to safely help you with this at the hospital. If you would like help installing your car seat, you may contact the California Highway Patrol.