Before Your Delivery
Delivery day is an exciting time! Below are some tips to help make your special day smooth.
Preregister
Filling out the hospital paperwork before your due date will save you time on delivery day. You may preregister with the admitting department in the main lobby of Adventist Health Hanford, 115 Mall Drive.
Admission staff are available weekdays, 5 a.m. – 9 p.m., and 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. on weekends. The process takes about 15 minutes. You must bring your insurance and identification cards.
When you preregister, you also may sign up for our online patient portal, called MyAdventistHealth, which provides secure, online access to your Adventist Health medical records.
Sign up for prenatal classes
In-person childbirth education classes available monthly on Wednesdays from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. at The Hanford Birth Center (115 Mall Drive, Hanford, CA).
Call Christine Leach at (559) 537-1808 to sign up for classes or to receive more information (breastfeeding class is incorporated in childbirth class).
Take a tour
To find out more or to schedule a tour of our birth center, please call Christine Leach at (559) 537-1808.
Talk with your provider about delivery day communication
Ask your physician what to do when you suspect you’ve started labor, such as when you experience ongoing, regular contractions. You’ll want to know ahead of time when to call your provider.
Pack a go-bag
We provide everything you need in the hospital, including a hospital gown, shampoo, soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, diapers and wipes. If you’d like, you can pack a change of clothes, your baby’s clothes and anything else you’d like for your comfort. We recommend leaving valuable items at home.
Because breastfeeding is best for babies and mothers, we do not provide free formula for the ride home or the baby’s first days at home. Moms who plan to formula-feed should bring formula for the ride home and plan to have some at home.
Pacifiers also have been associated with reduced breastfeeding, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Because breastfeeding is so important to newborns’ and mothers’ health, we provide pacifiers only when there is a medical need, such as the baby is having a painful procedure or undergoing tongue training.
Arrange for child care
At this time, children, siblings, and visitors less than 18 years of age are not permitted at the Hanford Birth Center due to COVID-19 restrictions. Please make childcare arrangements prior to your hospital arrival.
Select a pediatrician
If you don’t have a pediatrician, you’re welcome to choose one before you go to the hospital so they can be called to visit your baby in the hospital. You have many excellent physicians to choose from. If you haven’t chosen a pediatrician, we always have one of our excellent physicians on call who will attend to your baby while in the hospital.