Before birth

When Holly Purcell first checked into Odessa Regional Medical Center, she went to the postpartum floor.

But Purcell had yet to give birth, even though the Marfa resident was hospitalized after her water broke at 32 weeks gestation.

A few days after she went to the hospital, however, Purcell was one of the first women transferred to ORMC's new antepartum unit. She said it's made a big difference.

"Here I can be with mothers in the same situation I am," she said.

The six rooms in the antepartum unit, which opened Sept. 9, have their own fetal monitors, so Purcell can hear Skylyn, the daughter she's expecting.

René Robertson, Purcell's mother, said the new unit, which has its own nurse station, offers peace and quiet that's crucial when trying to avoid giving birth.

Premature infants can avoid three days in intensive care for each day they spend in utero, she said.

"They explained it would be better for her to be over here, because there's so much activity (in the postpartum unit)," Robertson said.

Carol Morrison, ORMC's director of maternal child, said, along with the baby monitor, the rooms offer amenities like bookshelves, where mothers with at-risk pregnancies can keep personal items like books, playing cards and pictures of their children.

Morrison said the tours she's brought through the unit appreciate what they've seen.

"They all say this is such a warm, inviting atmosphere, rather than a cold hospital room," she said.

But mothers aren't the only ones looking forward to the new unit. Dr. Norman Harris, an obstetrician/gynecologist who practices at ORMC, said it would benefit physicians, as well.

"This is going to be good for me and all the OB/GYNs because it will allow our high-risk pregnancy doctors to more closely watch their high-risk patients," Harris said.

The new second-floor antepartum unit goes along with other improvements in the works at ORMC. An eight-bed expansion of the hospital's neonatal-intensive care unit and a bridge connecting its east and west campuses are under construction.

The hospital must hope demand is as high on those projects as it's been for the antepartum unit. Registered nurse Christine Abila said the rooms were full within two hours after it opened.

"As soon as I have one (patient) released, we have more who are ready," she said.

Purcell said she's thankful ORMC turned some old intensive care rooms into antepartum rooms.

"It's been great," she said. "The nurses know what you need. They've been really good."