Labor and Delivery

We Deliver More Than Expert Care

Torrance Memorial Medical Center offers private Labor and Delivery rooms that provide the perfect environment for your family's birthing experience. Supportive and caring nurses are specially trained to assist you during this important time with the highest quality care for you and your baby.

• We have 14 private labor rooms, 4 antepartum rooms, 2 bed triage rooms, 3 ORs, and a 5-bed PACU.
• An experienced team of registered nurses, many who are certified in their specialty of obstetrics, advanced fetal monitoring and lactation education.
• Dedicated anesthesiologists are available around the clock and have been specially trained in Labor and Delivery practices.
• TOLAC - a Trial of Labor after Cesarean - for mothers who wish to have a vaginal deliver after delivering cesarean section can do so.
• An in-house Laborist group who provide 24/7 coverage with access to obstetric and gynecological intensivists, nurses and neonatologists.

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Maternity Services Tours

As a parent-to-be, one of the things you'll want to do is make a reservation to take "Baby Steps," a walking tour of Torrance Memorial's Family Birth Center. This tour, led by Labor and Delivery nurses, include a preview of the labor, delivery and mother-baby areas of the hospital.

Tours are offered at least twice a month. You'll enjoy light refreshments, gifts and a short video about what to expect when it's your time to deliver. You will also have the opportunity to ask any questions you might have and meet our friendly staff.

Personal, private tours of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are also available for parents with higher-risk pregnancies.

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Labor and Delivery Suites

Each of the 14 beautiful, private labor and delivery suites contains all of the equipment that might be necessary during delivery.

• Equipment is stowed in the suite's armoire and cupboard, so there is no unnecessary activity in and out of the room during the birth. This allows the focus to be where it should be: on the birth experience itself.
• Once delivery is complete, all of the equipment is immediately rolled back into their areas, allowing the new family to bond in a warm, peaceful environment.

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Birth Navigator

The Torrance Memorial Birth Navigator is an experienced Registered Nurse with a background in labor, delivery, and mother and baby care with expertise in pregnancy, childbirth education, labor, delivery, post-partum and lactation. The birth navigator is available to meet with you one-on-one or by phone at 310-517-8646 or email.

Our Birth Navigator can:

• Provide you with information, support and resources as throughout your pregnancy, childbirth, post-delivery and lactation
• Help you develop a personal plan for your labor and delivery at the hospital
• Answer questions you may have about:
  • Your pregnancy, labor, and delivery
  • caring for yourself and your baby post-delivery
  • breastfeeding your baby
• Address your special needs or unique circumstances

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The Golden Hour

The first hour of life is referred to as the "Golden Hour" for our new families. We support this special time by asking all visitors to step out of the room, allowing you and your newborn to be together. Your nursing staff is at your side to support this first bonding opportunity.

During the "Golden Hour" our nurses help our patients with "skin to skin" contact with their newborns. "Skin to skin" enhances the bonding that occurs during the first hour of life and allows the newborn to maintain optimal body temperature. If you have decided to breastfeed your newborn, this is the perfect time to start.

• "Skin to skin" originated in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) as a way to help infants grow and thrive.
• It was so successful in the NICU, this practice was quickly rolled out to include full-term babies.
• Parents and nurses saw immediate benefits for full-term newborns as well, including bonding and improvement in the initiation of breastfeeding.
• The "skin to skin" program is extremely popular here - we even have fathers taking advantage of this opportunity

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Cesarean Sections

Should the need arise for your baby to be delivered via Cesarean Section, the Labor & Delivery staff is fully equipped to provide surgical options within the department.

• Three designated, state-of-the-art surgical suites are available around the clock within the department.
• Our focus is on the complete birthing experience and the health and safety of the mother and baby. Our goal is to keep the birthing process as normal as possible, even though a surgery component has been added.
• Your birthing partner may be with you during the surgery, and you are given the same opportunity of having the "skin to skin" experience with your newborn during the "Golden Hour" in the recovery area.