Tips for dads coming to the hospital

• Park and enter the hospital through the St. Luke’s Health Pavilion (3821 Spring Street, Racine)
• If assistance is needed upon arrival, please ask the associate the concierge desk to help you. If no one is present at the desk, please pick up the designated phone on counter and you will be immediately connected to the Women and Infants Unit.
• Someone will come down to greet you and escort you to the unit
• You and your wife/partner will be escorted to your room
• You will be given, and need to wear, a name badge listing your wife’s/partner's room number. After delivery, you will receive a "Baby Band" identification tag
• While your wife/partner is in the bathroom changing, you can put her bags in the closet.

• If you and your wife/partner choose to have your other children present for the delivery, there must be another adult present so you can coach your wife/partner
• The cafeteria is open for your convenience. Please check hours as they may vary. There are also vending machines available and a nourishment room located on the Women and Infants floor.
• You can order a tray from the hospital's Room Service-there is a charge collected when the tray is delivered. Please check on times that your order must be placed.
• Feel free to use the shower in your wife/partner's room

• We encourage rooming-in for all babies. This gives you a chance to learn your baby's cues. Skin-to-skin contact helps regulate your baby's temperature and promote bonding. Dads can do this, too.
• When walking your baby in the hall, always push him/her in a crib; this is a security and a safety measure
• Dads can visit anytime
• General visiting hours are from 11 am – 8:30 pm
• Your other children may visit any time your wife/partner agrees to see them. There are not set "visiting hours," just what moms and babies can tolerate. Children may visit as long as they are healthy, immunized and have not recently been exposed to chicken pox.
• There are special guidelines to be followed if your baby is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Please ask the nurse in the nursery for special instructions.
• Your baby and your wife/partner will need discharge orders, usually written that day, before checking out. We cannot always tell in advance when the doctor will be coming in to make rounds and write the discharge orders. For efficiency, you may want to call your wife/partner before you arrive, especially if you are on a tight schedule.
• Park in the front of the St. Luke’s Health Pavilion’s entrance. We have carts on the unit that you can use to transport any items you take home.
• Be sure to bring your baby's car seat to the unit. All babies that are discharged must be placed in an approved car seat.