High Risk Pregnancy

High-Risk Pregnancy Care

If your pregnancy is considered high-risk, or if you have complications, we are here for you. Hoag’s team of national leaders is here to support you with unparalleled advanced maternity care, including:

• the latest medical and genetic tests
• maternal-fetal medicine doctors who work with your own obstetrician to tailor treatment for you
• specialized treatment units for women and newborns
• a state-of-the-art antepartum unit
• a dedicated OB Emergency Department and OB triage unit
• specialized motherhood education programs
• neonatology care at both of our hospitals, including a Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Newport Beach and a special care nursery at Hoag Irvine.

Antepartum Unit and Women’s Surgical Services

Hoag’s unique antepartum unit on the 4th floor of the Sue & Bill Gross Women’s Pavilion at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach is a 14-bed haven for high-risk obstetric patients who require inpatient services. These patients get the specialized care they need on a dedicated unit with state-of-the-art equipment and specially trained nurses. Care in the antepartum unit includes daily rounds by a clinical pharmacist, a gestational diabetes educator and a perinatologist in addition to the patient’s private obstetrician.

Comfortable and quiet, this unit has immediate access to operating rooms in the event of an emergency. The 36 additional beds on this floor are used for gynecologic oncology and surgical patients.

Labor, Delivery, Recovery (LDR), OB Triage and Obstetric Emergency Department (OB ED)

Hoag’s 18 private LDR (labor, deliver & recovery) suites are on the fifth floor of the Sue & Bill Gross Women’s Pavilion at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach provide comfort during labor and quickly transform into fully equipped delivery rooms for childbirth. The LDR unit has three C-section rooms and is staffed round-the-clock with anesthesiologists.

Adjacent to the LDR unit is a dedicated 3-bed OB triage area and 4-room OB ED servicing pregnant patients 16 weeks or over who came in through the emergency department or through physician referrals.

OB Triage patients, who are full-term labor patients presenting with signs and symptoms of labor, will be evaluated by an LDR nurse. OB ED patients will be evaluated by their own obstetrician or by one of the 24/7 board-certified OB Hospitalists and treated according to standardized protocols.

OB Hospitalists are skilled in a variety of different delivery techniques which may help spare a patient an unnecessary C-section. OB Hospitalists are expertly trained in difficult deliveries including twin deliveries, preterm deliveries, face presentations and breech deliveries. The three key advantages to having an OB Hospitalist are:

1. Availability: The OB Hospitalist is immediately available throughout the day and night to examine patients, evaluate the progress of the labor, react to laboratory abnormalities, and provide a safe delivery. If an emergency occurs, the OB Hospitalist is already on the scene, ready to respond with lifesaving intervention. The presence of a doctor full-time in Labor and Delivery improves patient safety.
2. Highly Skilled: OB Hospitalists provide medical expertise and optimal patient care. A skilled hospital-based Obstetrician is skilled in a variety of different delivery techniques which may help spare a patient an unnecessary C-section.
3. Communication: The OB Hospitalist will be familiar with all of the key players in the hospital including medical and surgical consultants, discharge planners, social workers, clergy, and others. They can expedite car for patients.
4. Patient Satisfaction​: Patient surveys have shown high levels of satisfaction for OB Hospitalist care. Patients are willing to trade familiarity for availability and expertise. The OB Hospitalist will make sure that a complete report comes to your doctor about everything that has happened in the hospital.

OB Hospitalists and nurse educators run twice monthly neonatal emergency drills using “pregnant Noelle and newborn Hal” – fully functional patient simulators that mimic a real patient’s physiological responses.

Click here to download Hoag’s patient guide to Antepartum Testing

Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialists

Hoag’s nationally recognized maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) specialists are experts in high-risk pregnancy, caring for women who have a preexisting health condition, a complication or a problem with the pregnancy itself.

Hoag offers two MFM clinics, one in Newport Beach and one in Irvine, which both include a Perinatal Nurse Navigator program to help expecting moms whose complex medical conditions require special care, planning and services in advance of delivery.

Meet the team of maternal-fetal medicine specialists who are here for you, should you need them.