VALDOSTA — Lacey Corbett sat on the edge of the bed Tuesday, holding some precious cargo.
“Another couple of years and you’ll see him riding a bicycle all over,” she said of her newborn son.
Tatum, the son of Jake and Lacey Corbett of Lake Park, was born at 2:17 p.m. Monday at The Birthplace, South Georgia Medical Center’s specialized childbirth facility. He is Lacey Corbett’s first child and Jake’s second.
Wednesday morning, the Corbetts were in Lacey’s room at The Birthplace, awaiting discharge.
Jake said it took two years of in vitro fertilization attempts coordinated through a Jacksonville, Fla., hospital to bring Tatum into the world. He and Lacey have been married for 12 years.
Lacey Corbett was impressed with the staff at The Birthplace.
“The nurses, they were awesome,” she said. “We came here Sunday night to get induced and had to get a C-section Monday. … I can’t ask for a better staff.”
“It’s like (the staff) have known her all her life, the way they took care of her,” Jake said.
Birth of the Birthplace
Renovations to South Georgia Medical Center in 1984 included an entirely new birth facility, replacing earlier “traditional” birthing rooms, said Erika Bennett, director of marketing for SGMC.
Previous “traditional” hospital birth facilities used three rooms — a labor room, a delivery room and a recovery room — and mothers had to be shuttled between them, said Peggy Knight, director of women’s and children’s services at SGMC.
Now the practice is to keep the mother, and the baby as much as possible, in the same room the entire time.
“Babies used to be whisked off to the nursery immediately,” Knight said. “Now they stay with mom. They can quickly do ‘skin to skin,’ breastfeeding, and the family’s available. Everybody sees the baby, holds the baby and takes pictures.”
In the past, the popular image of a hospital birth was a giant nursery window packed with rows of babies, with visitors trying to point out which baby a nurse should hold up to show off.
The window still exists, but doesn’t get as much use, she said.
Technology has also made expectant moms more mobile in the Birthplace.
In the old days, pregnant women were confined to hospital beds when neonatal monitors were worn because of all the attached cables.
Nowadays the equipment is all wireless, so the mother-to-be can get up and move around.
The Birthplace Now
Current facilities include eight birthing rooms, two operating suites, three triage rooms, six OB-emergency department rooms and seven antepartum treatment rooms where prenatal care such as iron supplements can be taken care of.
The staff numbers tend to fluctuate, but there are about 45 nurses, plus surgical scrub techs and patient care techs, said Katie Gordon, nurse manager for labor and delivery and the OB emergency room.
For premature babies, a neonatal intensive care unit is located inside the nursery.
About 2,000 babies a year are born at SGMC’s Birthplace, Knight said, averaging 150-180 per month.
While obstetrician gynecologists — OB-GYNs — keep their practices in the community, they come in to the hospital to deliver babies. The Birthplace also has a doctor on hand 24/7 in the building for any emergencies or other unexpected situations that come up. Also available 24/7 is a neonatologist (a specialist in babycare).
Prenatal care, including childbirth classes and breastfeeding classes, are offered at the Birthplace. So is AngelEyes, a video system which allows family members to use smartphones to watch a baby in the NICU.
Many of the children at The Birthplace are military babies thanks to its proximity to Moody Air Force Base. Knight said the birth experience can be video livestreamed to a military husband in the field who couldn’t be there for the birth.
Mothers needing instruction or help with feeding can get help from the hospital’s lactation expert, Knight said. “That’s a big help to moms,” she said.
The Future of The Birthplace
Recently-approved expansion plans for South Georgia Medical Center include an entire patient tower just for women and children’s concerns. The new tower is expected to be open by fall-winter 2025, Bennett said.
“It means a lot more real estate,” Knight said. Among the improvements will be larger up-to-date rooms, all with windows (some of the current Birthplace rooms are windowless), a dedicated NICU separate from the nursery, and a dedicated entrance — no more going through the emergency room doors.
“Most people don’t like going to the hospital,” Gordon said. “We’re different from other departments because people are happy to be here.”