If you have scheduled a maternity stay, you can now complete the hospital pre-registration process online! Start by gathering relevant primary and secondary insurance information, the guarantor's personal and employment specifics, and emergency contact numbers.

After logging in, click Pre-Register > Pre-Register for My Delivery. Get started.

Where to Park

You will enter through the main hospital entrance off Henderson Avenue. Valet parking is available at the main entrance to the hospital or your support person can park the car in one of the garages.

Where to Enter the Building

Enter through the Main Hospital entrance on Henderson Avenue when you arrive. The doors are open 24 hours a day. Once inside the hospital, proceed to the Jones Tower and take the elevators to the first floor.

Where to Check In

For women who are in labor or have a scheduled birth, go straight to labor and delivery located on the first floor of the Jones Tower. Someone at the nurse’s station will greet you and show you to your room.

Breast Pump Rentals

The gift shop, Lori’s Gifts, has Medela^™ breast pumps available to rent. Additionally, nursing supplies and pump parts are available for purchase. The gift shop is located on the ground floor of the Sid Richardson Pavilion near the main entrance. For more information, hours, and pricing, please call 817-250-3152.

Your Labor Room

Your birth process — labor, birth and recovery — takes place in one of our uniquely designed and soothing private maternity suites, located in the Helen McKee Ryan Birthing Center. The center features:

• Seventeen uniquely designed and comforting private maternity suites
• Three suites equipped with tubs for labor and/or birth
• Three cesarean birth suites.

What’s In Your Labor and Delivery Room

Each spacious labor and delivery suite comfortably accommodates a birthing family and includes:

• Flat-screen TV with a USB for your personal streaming devices
• Free internet access
• Couch that converts into a comfortable bed
• Individual, full-size bathroom with a shower or tub
• Temperature control for your room

Make Yourself at Home

This is your birth experience and we want you to be comfortable. Feel free to bring your own labor support tools, birth gown, music players, extra pillows, essential oils and diffusers for aromatherapy, etc.

Birth Plans

If you have a birth plan, please share it with the nurse when you arrive at your labor room. You do not have to create a birth plan. We will try to follow your wishes as long as they do not interfere with the health and safety of you or the baby.

Visitors during Labor

Our flexible visitation policy allows you to determine who visits and when. At Texas Health Fort Worth, our family-centered maternity care philosophy embraces the important role of your entire support system in the birth of your child. You may decide who you want to be present for the birth - this includes siblings - although we request that an adult other than your support person accompany any children.

Visitors during the Birth

Texas Health Fort Worth allows you to determine who is in the room during a vaginal delivery, as long as the medical staff and the nurses have room to care for the patients. Up to two visitors may be present in the operating room during a cesarean.

If You Want Visitors Limited

If you are concerned about having visitors in your room, notify your nurse.

Family Lounge

Vending machines, comfortable seating and phone charging stations are available in the waiting room on the first floor, outside of Labor and Delivery.

Documenting this special occasion is important for many of our families. Cameras and video recorders are allowed with the following conditions: 

• Your medical provider and any nurses or other providers in the room must consent to the photography.
• The individual must sign the hospital’s Photographer/Videographer Agreement.
• Photography/videography can begin only when instructed by the physician or hospital staff.
• The individual must obtain permission to photograph or videotape hospital staff before doing so.
• Only hand-held devices are allowed in Labor and Delivery (no tripods).

Please note that the physician or nurse may require an individual to stop photographing or videotaping at any time.

There is no medical best choice for managing pain during labor. Everyone has different pain thresholds. Instead, it’s a question of what makes the most sense for you and your partner.

Pain Management Options at Texas Health Fort Worth

If you find that you want additional pain management during labor, the options available at Texas Health Fort Worth include:

• Laboring in water
• IV medication
• Nitrous oxide
• Epidurals

Learn more about pain management options.

Labor Support Tools

Texas Health Fort Worth has birthing balls, labor bars and several bathtubs. We also invite you to bring other labor-support tools. When you arrive at Labor and Delivery, please notify your nurse if you would like to use one of our items.

Doulas

Expectant parents often find it helpful to have the support of a doula. Doulas are trained in providing emotional and physical support and helping women to carry out their birth plans. Doulas can be hired sometime during the pregnancy.

Before Your Birth

If you are having a scheduled induction or cesarean at Texas Health Fort Worth, please remember the following:

• Follow your providers instructions on eating and drinking prior to the procedure
• After check in, you will be prepared approximately two hours prior to the procedure. Visitors are allowed, however, you will be occupied with tests during this time.
• Up to two adults may be present in the operating room for the surgery, unless there are any safety concerns.

Scheduled Cesarean Births

When you arrive, notify the admissions staff that you are there for a scheduled procedure. You will be taken to a cesarean prep room, where you will remain for approximately two hours while the nurses monitor the baby and check your vitals. Before the surgery, your support partner will be asked to change into scrubs. They may take a camera or phone into the operating room. You will be wheeled to the operating room, where you will receive your anesthesia. Your partner will then join you in the operating room.

One physician and a few nurses and anesthesia providers will be in the operating room with you and your support person(s).

Gentle Cesarean Birth

For those who need a cesarean birth, Texas Health Fort Worth offers a type of cesarean that aims to create a birth experience similar to a vaginal delivery, called a gentle cesarean. If you are interested in this type of experience, please discuss it with your nurse.

What to Expect During and After

Typically, you will be in the operating room for about one hour. After the surgery you will be moved back to your Labor and Delivery room with your baby and support person. You will remain in recovery for approximately two hours and barring any safety concerns, will have skin-to-skin time with your baby to establish the first feeding.

The Golden Hour

The first hour after birth is called the golden hour, when we allow only mom, baby and one support person in the room to promote rest and relaxation.

Skin to Skin

As soon as possible after birth, nurses will place your baby skin to skin for at least an hour to allow time for the first feeding. Skin-to-skin time helps your newborn stay warm, stabilizes blood-sugar levels and is considered good for all babies.

Baby’s First Examination

After the first hour, your newborn will be examined by a nurse in your birth room, which will allow your family to be part of the baby’s first exam and measurement.

Your Pediatrician is Notified

Your pediatrician will be notified about your birth. If you do not have a preselected pediatrician or one with privileges at the hospital, your baby will be seen by the on-call pediatrician.

Transition to Your Hospital Room

You and your baby will remain in Labor and Delivery for approximately one to two hours before being moved to the room where you will stay throughout your visit.