It could be the world’s most expensive baby gift.
The Women and Babies program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre launched its new $188-million state-of-the-art maternity facility with baby-shower cupcakes and balloons Thursday and boasted about giving Toronto mothers access to some of the best birthing and neonatal-care technology in North America.
Moms and babies, some under two pounds, will be transferred Sept. 12 from their cramped quarters at Women’s College Hospital to the 120,000 square-foot Sunnybrook addition that features 20 private rooms and Canada’s largest breast-feeding clinic. Operating rooms have television monitors, so mom can watch her cesarean-section baby in the first moments of life, and even if resuscitation or intensive care requires it be treated in another room.
This moment of separation can be traumatic, says Vicki Steele, Grade 2 teacher and member of the family advisory committee at Sunnybrook. Ms. Steele had a cesarean section with her second child. Because of the screen put up to block her view during the operation, she had to view her son, born premature at 28 weeks and rushed away by nurses, in a photograph.
“My husband had a digital camera he put over the screen and he took a picture. The first thing I saw was a photo of my son,” Ms. Steele said.
At Sunnybrook, the ceiling-mounted, closed-circuit TV will be a huge stress relief, “for mother, family and staff,” she added.
Jennifer Blake, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Sunnybrook, said minimal stress means labour pain is less intense, and the private rooms for low-risk births help reduce health risks. Private rooms also prevent the spread of airborne illness, and some suites can be locked down and pressurized, in the case of an airborne disease in the facility.
Proximity to Sunnybrook’s adult care
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