Central Maine Healthcare

Where You are the Center

Preparing for Your Big Day

Specialized Care for Your Baby

While most babies are born exactly when they should be and in the best of health, it’s still reassuring to know that we offer services for those rare times when babies need a little extra help. Central Maine Healthcare has a Special Care Nursery available for those babies and their families. We have the best providers and nurses on our team who use the latest in technology, skills, and compassion to care for your little one.

Local Care So You Can Get Help… Quickly!

Our Special Care Nursery is located at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, which is a quick drive from Bridgton or Rumford. If you give birth in either of those two hospitals, our transport team will quickly and carefully transport your baby to our caring team in Lewiston in under 30 minutes.

Specialized Care for Your Baby

We specialize in caring for babies born with medical conditions. Our providers and nurses have special training and are skilled at evaluating and diagnosing infant conditions. As a result, you have the peace of mind, knowing that should any complications arise, we have specialized care waiting just for you and your baby. Our team works closely with infants’ families to create care plans as needed. We’ll help plan what services might be needed, including post-discharge care and home-care services.

Free Accommodations for Extra Support

If your baby requires extended care and traveling to CMMC is an issue, we have a hospitality house, Arbor House, to accommodate you and your family. The 15-bedroom building has a common room, a fully equipped kitchen, dining room, library, laundry facilities, a patio and a garden. Arbor House is free for its visitors and is supported through community donations. For more information: Call CMMC’s Arbor House Scheduler: 795-2691.

Childbirth and Parenting Classes

We want to do more than just support you on your big day – we aim to offer the education you’ll need to feel empowered and ready for birth and parenting!

Central Maine Healthcare offers several classes for parents-to-be and their family members. Whether you’re a first-time parent or a seasoned parent, these classes will help you get ready for your birth and bringing home your baby.

Childbirth Education Classes

We offer childbirth education classes to ensure that our families feel confident and ready to face the wonderful challenges to come. Through discussion, PowerPoint presentations, DVD video clips, plus hands-on-activities, we explore a wide variety of childbirth topics.

Our classes cover pregnancy, labor, labor comfort techniques, cesarean birth, newborns, postpartum issues, and breastfeeding. We practice labor positions (which includes trying out physical therapy balls and a birthing stool), develop different breathing techniques for different parts of labor, and learn the vital importance of relaxation. Our goal is for expectant parents to learn about childbirth in a fun, comfortable, and respectful class environment.

The birth of your child can be a positive, powerful experience, one that you will carry with you always. Through our childbirth education classes, we hope to give you the tools necessary to have the best birth experience possible.

Preparing for Your Big Day

Few experiences in life are as exciting as bringing home a new member of your family. Central Maine Healthcare wants to help you get ready for birth and caring for your newborn in any way that we can.

Ways We Can Help

Our doctors, midwives, and nurses are here to help you create the best plan for your upcoming birth experience. There are several ways we can assist in your preparation, including:

  • Childbirth and Parenting Classes: We offer a selection of classes for families, including childbirth education.
  • Guide to Pregnancy and Birth: We want to make sure you have the best birth experience, so we’ve created guides to help inform you and answer all your questions. From pregnancy to birth, breastfeeding to new mother and baby care, we’ve covered it all in our helpful guides created just for you.
  • Car Seat: Proper installation of your new baby’s car seat is vital to its working properly to keep your newborn safe. We can ease your mind by helping you ensure that it’s installed correctly.

Personalized Birth Plan: At Central Maine Healthcare, our goal is to help you have the best birth experience possible. To help you and your doctor better understand your birth preferences, we encourage parents-to-be to create a birth plan. Central Maine Healthcare can provide you with a birth plan form through your care provider.

What is a Birth Plan? A birth plan is a personal care plan that outlines your preferences for how you’d like your labor, birth, and postpartum care to go. By creating a plan, you can determine exactly what kind of care you would like for you and your baby.
We encourage you and your spouse or birthing partner to enroll in our childbirth education classes, where you can learn about options that will be available to you during the labor experience. This will help you decide what should go into your birth plan and if your expectations are in sync with any requirements your hospital and birthing unit may have.

Creating Your Birth Plan: To create your plan, we suggest starting by making some notes about your labor and birth preferences. You can address experiences such as:

  • The sort of emotional support you would like to have. (For example, who would you like to be with you?)
  • The special comforts you would like to have throughout labor. (For example, would you like to spend time in a labor tub?)
  • The ways that you would like to alternative therapies. (For example, would you be interested in trying out our birthing stools and physical therapy balls?)

Be sure to share your birth plan with your healthcare provider and other maternity support people, as they might have some great ideas for you. Also show it to those who will be with you during your labor and birth experience. You can go over your plan with the team ahead of time, so they know what your preferences are.
Keep in mind that if your birth does not go exactly as you planned, it’s okay! This is where flexibility is the key. Learn about the ways that labor can unfold and plan for how you will handle unexpected situations, then focus on the positive.
A birth plan reflects how you would like to navigate a joyful experience. By writing things down, you also let those assisting you know more about who you are.

Guide to Pregnancy and Birth

We know that new parents often have lots of questions about pregnancy, delivery, and taking care of a new infant. That’s why Central Maine Healthcare created guides to guide you on your new parenting path. To make it even more interactive and accessible, this series of guides includes online access to educational videos. That way you can read the material and then see the information in action. If you’ve already received access to your guides, you can get to the online materials by signing in here.

Guides for Pregnancy through Parenting: We created the Injoy Birth & Parenting Education series to address many of the common questions that new parents often have. Included in this series are four guides:

  • Understanding Pregnancy
  • Better Breastfeeding
  • Understanding Birth (for those who are enrolled in our Childbirth Education Course)
  • Mother and New Baby Care

Baby’s Car Seat

When it’s time to head home after the birth, it is important to make sure your baby is safe and snug in their car seat. At CMH, your safety is one of our top priorities which includes the ride home! For more information about car seat inspection and installations, call 207-795-2695.

Keep Your Baby Safe: Maine law requires that your baby rides home in an approved child safety seat. It’s best to take the time to install the car seat ahead of time, so you’ll be familiar with how it works before your baby is born. We recommend that you have the car seat inspected by a certified car seat inspection station, just to make sure it’s as safe as can be.
Central Maine Healthcare helps with safe care seat installations by providing resources. We can connect you with the professionals that can test your installation. 

Why CMH Created the Program: Child safety seats are required under Maine law. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics show that using properly installed car seats reduces the risk of death by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for children between one and four years of age. Child car seats also reduce the need for hospitalization after a car accident. Simply put: car seats save children’s lives.

Virtual Car Seat Assistance: CMMC offers free virtual car seat inspections and installation assistance. Appointments available daily.
Contact: June Turcotte, Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician 207-795-2695
Need more resources? Child Passenger Safety Seat Program

Community Resources: You can bring your vehicle and car seat to a free monthly fitting clinic held at the United Ambulance station in Lewiston on the third Thursday of every month from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. More information about car seat safety (as well as inspection dates and locations) is available through the Maine Department of Motor Vehicles or the Safe Kids Maine organization.

To help you get started with proper car seat installation procedure, we’ve included some tips below.

  • The safest way to position the harness: the internal harness straps should be at or below your baby’s shoulders when using a car seat in the rear-facing position.
  • Once you have buckled your baby into the internal harness, adjust the harness so the fit is snug. If you can pinch a fold in the harness, it is not tight enough and will need to be re-adjusted. The harness retainer clip is in the proper position when it is at armpit level.
  • It is not recommended to add items to your safety seat that did not come with it. If you feel that your baby needs additional head support, you can use rolled baby blankets or towels and place them on each side. Do not place anything including blankets behind the baby or between the baby and the harness.
  • To obtain optimal harness fit for your baby it’s ideal to avoid bulky clothing. Once the baby is secured in the harness cover the child with a blanket if needed.

Once You Are Home

Once you leave the birthing center to head home with your new bundle of joy, we will continue to offer you the care that you need.  From offering breastfeeding support to local resources, we want you to feel supported by us and those in your community.

Breastfeeding Support and Resources We have many resources available to help you as you adjust to motherhood. New mothers might like to take a breastfeeding class and consider joining a breastfeeding support group. Our lactation consultants are also available to help you through breastfeeding issues that require expert help.

Infant Care Resources When it comes to infant care, there are several free home-visiting programs available to all families, with visits from a social worker and a nurse. Both can help with the expected and the unexpected issues that may arise for you and your family.

Postpartum Mood Disorders While you’re healing and recovering from birth, pay attention to how you feel emotionally. It’s normal to have ups and downs while you’re adjusting to parenting and dealing with lack of sleep. But it’s also not uncommon for depression or anxiety to creep in that needs treatment. You can read more about the issue of postpartum depression and don’t hesitate to reach out to your healthcare provider if you suspect that you might need a little extra help.

Newborn Care

Becoming a new parent can be overwhelming, especially as you’re just getting to know your baby and dealing with a bit of sleep deprivation in the process. We want you to feel confident and successful at parenting your newborn, which is why we offer support for learning about caring for your infant.

Learn Before Birth Infant care adds another great reason to attend the class. You can also do lots of reading in books and online, watching videos, and talking with your friends and family about what they did to provide the best care to their babies. Just make sure to check with your provider about anything that you find that’s confusing or concerning.

State and Community Resources Several state and federally funded agencies offer special programs to families with newborns. The Maine Families Home Visiting Program provides a home visitor who will visit with you and your family from pregnancy until your child is three years old. This program is free and is available to all. The home visitor is there to offer guidance and assistance for a range of issues. Another program provides free Visiting Nurse visits. The nurse can help you by providing healthcare, resources and information about your baby’s wellness.

Postpartum Care

After you’ve given birth, you now begin what we call the postpartum period. This term refers specifically to the six weeks following birth but can last much longer depending on your culture or medical needs. We love caring for postpartum mothers and babies! The Central Maine Healthcare teams will work with you to help you adjust to motherhood and to heal your post-pregnancy body.

Body Changes During Postpartum After you’ve given birth, you will typically bleed (called lochia) in which your body is eliminating all the excess blood, tissue, and mucus that helped your baby to grow. The best thing for you during this time is to rest and enjoy your baby, allowing your body to do the work to heal up properly. If you have any concerns about your bleeding, please don’t hesitate to call us with questions.

During the 6 weeks after birth, your uterus shrinks back to its normal size and you might feel some light contractions as this is happening. You also might feel more uterus tightening while breastfeeding, which is perfectly normal (and another reason why breastfeeding helps your body heal!).

Breastfeeding In the first few days after birth, your breasts will change size and shape as they prepare to feed your new baby. Colostrum is the first “milk” that your breasts will produce and is an amazing substance that gives your infant nutrients that they need to get a great start at growing. A couple days later, your breast milk will come in and you will probably notice a difference in how your breasts feel.

If, at any time, you have concerns about breastfeeding, feel free to talk to a nurse or lactation consultant at our hospitals. If you have chosen not to or can’t breastfeed for any reason, we can work with you to take care of your body and help you decide how you would like to feed your baby.

Postpartum Depression Feeling extra moody, sensitive, or even a little “down” is normal during the first days and weeks of postpartum. But sometimes new moms can develop depression that they just can’t shake on their own.

Postpartum depression is a type of clinical depression that occurs in some new moms shortly after they give birth. Our nurses screen new moms very carefully for this treatable condition but it may not become apparent until you are back at home.

Research indicates that as many as 1 in 6 mothers will experience depressive feelings or the more consistent condition of postpartum depression. The causes are believed to be the significant drop in hormones (primarily estrogen and progesterone) that occur once a woman gives birth. Thyroid levels may also drop significantly, and a low thyroid condition can cause depression. The body may adjust in time and correct itself. If the cause is low thyroid, that can be easily tested and treated with medication.

It is important to note any symptoms you are feeling, and if they persist, tell your healthcare provider. Difficult emotional or life circumstances occurring at the same time can trigger or make postpartum depression worse. Serious, lingering depression is debilitating – but treatable – so don’t hesitate in telling healthcare providers all that you are feeling.

You might not feel like “yourself” for several days after giving birth, due to hormonal changes, fatigue and recovery. However, if after a week or two you notice the following symptoms, set up an appointment with your healthcare provider immediately. Symptoms of postpartum depression include:

  • Feelings of being overwhelmed
  • Feeling hopeless
  • Feeling sad and crying frequently
  • Restlessness
  • Moodiness
  • Lack of interest in social interaction
  • Low libido
  • No interest in food, or the opposite, overeating
  • Lack of energy and motivation
  • Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
  • Memory problems
  • Inability to focus
  • Inappropriate feelings of guilt or worthlessness
  • Inexplicable and/or vague body pains

Postpartum depression treatment The two most common forms of treatment for postpartum depression, which may be combined, are medication and talk therapy. Some medication may not be appropriate for women who are breastfeeding, and your healthcare provider can counsel you about what you can take.

Your choice of therapist may depend on your healthcare provider’s recommendation, your health insurance coverage and your income. Possible therapy resources are: a psychiatrist (a provider’s referral is usually needed), a psychologist, or a licensed clinical social worker. Ask your provider about CMH mental health experts who specialize in postpartum depression.

Please remember that depression is not your fault. It is a condition that affects many new mothers. And most of all, it can have an impact on your new baby. Call your healthcare provider if you have any concerns about your emotional or psychological state. You can get help to feel better!

For additional resources on post-partum depression visit Postpartum Support International.

During Your Stay

At Central Maine Healthcare, your birth experience is our number one priority. We want to make sure you and your baby are happy and healthy while you’re under our care. We work hard to provide you and your family with the assistance, resources and support that you’ll need.

Cozy Birthing Rooms: Our signature care offering is the priority we place on your comfort. The birthing suites at Central Maine Medical Center are designed to enhance privacy and comfort. The rooms include amenities such as access to labor tubs, televisions, and delicious meals. There’s plenty of space for a spouse or partner to spend the night with you.

Other Options You’ll Enjoy: We don’t just make you cozy in your room, we’ve taken the time to enhance our services to make you feel relaxed, safe, and supported in your birthing choices. Here are a few of the other options you can choose when you give birth at our hospitals.

  • Special Comforts: We offer a variety of comforting services, ranging from labor tubs for relaxation, security systems to make you feel safe, and homelike rooms to ensure you feel truly cared for by our team.
  • Alternate Therapies: For those interested in other ways to reduce the pain of labor and enhance relaxation, we offer complementary services such as massage, birthing balls, and more!
  • Caring for Your Baby: We want you to feel successful as a new parent, so we offer several services after your baby is born. These include access to lactation consultants to help with breastfeeding and feeding issues, hearing tests and any other diagnostic testing your baby may need, birth certificate filing, and help sending in birth announcements.
  • HUGS Security System: We ensure the safety of your newborn with our state-of-the art Hugs® security system. Newborns have an electronic tag attached to one foot, which allows them to be monitored 24/7. We consider the safety and security of our patients – especially our youngest – to be a top priority!

Alternate Therapies

At Central Maine Healthcare, we know that every birth is unique, and every woman has different needs. That’s why we’ve expanded our comfort options to include additional supportive resources for those who would like access to them.

A Full Range of Comfort Options: To make your birth experience more relaxing, our hospitals offer various alternative therapies including:

  • Acupressure: Gentle pressure is applied to strategic points to help relieve pain during childbirth. This ancient practice, also called Shiatsu, is related both to massage and acupuncture.
  • Aromatherapy: The careful use of essential oils has been shown to reduce many women’s pain and anxiety during childbirth. Scents like lavender and rose have even been shown in some studies to reduce the need for pain medication.
  • Birthing balls: A large, bouncy therapy ball can help a birthing mother get into a variety of positions that are more comfortable than lying in bed. Sitting or leaning on a ball can help a woman maintain a squat that is helpful for labor. It also makes it easier for her support person to offer a back massage.
  • Hydrotherapy: Hydrotherapy is just as it sounds: Laboring moms soak in a tub for part or all of labor. The warm water from the tub or a shower promote relaxation and reduce pain for many women.
  • Music therapy: Your favorite music can provide a distraction from the pain of childbirth and create a more relaxed environment for everyone involved.
  • Doulas: A doula is a non-medical person trained in the art of supporting a woman through the experience of giving birth. They act as a labor coach and as an advisor and resource for the woman and her partner and family before, during, and after delivery. We don’t have doulas on staff, but we are supportive of patients who hire doulas to help them.

Most families only stay with us for a couple of nights, but every effort is made to make this time a positive and memorable experience. Let us know how we can make your birth experience more comfortable.

HUGS Security System

When you give birth with us, you get our sincere concern for your safety and peace of mind. That means we’ve invested a lot of time and thought into protecting your new little one and you while you’re in our care. To do that, we offer the state-of-the-art Hugs® security system to track and protect your newborn.

What is the Hugs® Security System? The Hugs® security system is a special system in which we attach an electronic tag to one foot of your newborn. This allows them to be monitored around the clock, so we always know that they’re snug in their bassinet or with you and that they’re doing just fine.

 Additional Security Measures:
We also add more security by making our birthing centers locked units, which means we have put into place secure systems of check-in and check-out and require all our team members to wear photo ID badges.
We consider the safety and security of our patients – especially our youngest! – to be a top priority. If you have any questions or concerns about security, please feel free to reach out to discuss them with us.

Special Comforts

When you give birth at Central Maine Medical Center, we want to make sure you are truly comfortable during your stay. We go the extra mile to support your spouse or partner and to offer safety and security, so you can just relax.

Comfortable Birthing Rooms: Each of our birthing rooms are designed with relaxation in mind and offer the warmth and comfort of home. These rooms are made so that your partner or other support person can stay with you comfortably, including delicious meals, a private birthing room, access to a labor tub and other comfort options to help ease you through your labor. We want you to feel relaxed and cared for while you’re under our care!

Newborn Safety is Our Priority: For your safety, our hospital features the state-of-the-art Hugs® security program, an electronic tracking system that protects your precious newborn. Knowing your new baby is safe, you can get the rest that you need while knowing that you’re both in good hands.

Helping You Rest and Recover: Our team also wants to ensure that moms and their newborns have the quiet and alone time they need. We encourage visitors to be respectful of this special time and we enforce our visitor policies, so you can rest as much as possible. We also offer alternate therapies for those moms seeking expanded options to pain relief and comfort measures.

Caring For Your Baby

Whether you choose to breastfeed or formula-feed your baby, our nurses are here to help. First-time mothers may need a few tips to adjust to their newborn’s needs.
If you have decided to breastfeed, we have lactation consultants available to help new moms learn effective breastfeeding positions and techniques. We also offer free breastfeeding classes and a breastfeeding support group that meets once a week to ensure that you’ve got all the help you need to be successful.


Certified Lactation Consultants: Our lactation consultants are certified by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBCLE) and are also registered nurses. They are available for consultation prior to your delivery, during your stay, and can also be available to help after you go home. The lactation consultants work closely with the nurses in labor, delivery, and in the NICU to ensure a positive breastfeeding experience for you and your baby.

Newborn Health Tests and Procedures: We want the best for your baby and that means ensuring that they are healthy. We follow the Maine law requirement to test newborns for health and hearing conditions, to help provide the best care for your new baby. Newborns don’t always display symptoms of issues at birth, so these screening exams help us detect problems early when they can be corrected the most easily. One of the tests we offer is the Newborn Bloodspot Screening test, which can detect serious health issues that are thankfully rare but may impede development or even be fatal. The hearing tests that we offer are important because speaking and language skills are dependent upon a child’s ability to hear well.

Hepatitis B Vaccination: This vaccination is an important health precaution that can be started right after your baby is born. Make sure to have a chat about it with your provider before or right after birth. Typically, the vaccination requires three injections given over the course of 18 months. It’s recommended that the first injection be given soon after birth or at least within your new baby’s first two months.

Other Vaccinations: Other vaccinations will need to be given in the first year of your baby’s life, so it’s important to start learning about them now while you’re pregnant. Talk to your healthcare provider about what vaccinations are recommended and when they should be given so that you know how to make the best choices for your baby.

Paternity Paperwork: If you need to fill out paternity papers, both parents must sign the paternity form in front of a notary public. You may get the papers notarized at your hospital’s birthing unit. We would be happy to help you with this process, if needed.

Your Baby’s Birth Certificate: Filling out your baby’s birth certificate can be an exciting experience as it is the first legal documentation of their birth and new name! After your baby is born, we will provide you with the necessary paperwork that you can complete. For your convenience, we will then send in the paperwork for you to your city or town office, and then you can get back to enjoying your new little one.
Your baby’s birth certificate is a valuable legal document. It is often required to obtain other documents, as a person goes through life. The birth certificate shows that a person is a natural-born citizen of the United States of America. A birth certificate provides proof of age and identity. This is important for inheritance reasons and for obtaining rights to travel to foreign countries.
Your baby’s birth certificate will include the following information:

  • Full Name (first, middle, last)
  • Place of Birth
  • Date and Time of Birth
  • Parents’ Names

A birth certificate is also needed, in most cases, for the following:

  • Social Security number
  • Entrance to school
  • Work permits
  • Travel
  • Driver’s license
  • Marriage license
  • Welfare benefits
  • Entrance to the Armed Forces

Your newborn’s birth certificate also helps healthcare providers by providing vital information related to the health of your baby. This information can be used for planning maternal and child health programs and to provide quality care for your own child and family. Some of the information requested when you complete the birth certificate form is personal. This information is considered confidential and will help with statistical information and medical research. Please try to make sure that the information in the birth certificate form is as complete and accurate as possible. We would be happy to answer questions and help you as needed.

Sometimes when the birth certificate form is being filled out, parents can have legal questions about the information needed. You might be divorced or not married, causing you to feel concern about what legal name to give your child or how to include the name of the other parent on the certificate. We would love to help you puzzle out legal issues so that you can get all the information correct.

If you discover an error on your child’s birth certificate later, contact the municipal clerk of the city or town where your child was born. The clerk will assist you in the proper procedures for making corrections.

Copies of your child’s birth certificate may be obtained from the city or town clerk at the birthplace, from the city or town clerk where the mother was residing at the time of the child’s birth, or from the state’s Office of Vital Records (1-800-606-0215). A fee is charged for copies.
This copy has been adapted from the State of Maine Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Health Office of Vital Records, State House Station 11, Augusta, ME 04333-0011.

Birth Announcements: Congratulations – you just had a new baby! Share the joyous news with your community by filling out a birth announcement form while you’re staying here with us. We can help you get it submitted to your local newspaper so that your family, friends, and neighbors can celebrate right along with you.

Breastfeeding Support

Central Maine Healthcare is committed to helping new moms breastfeed, for those who have chosen that method of feeding their babies. Our team has several lactation consultants who are available to help you learn, troubleshoot, and to lend a listening ear if you get frustrated.

We also offer free breastfeeding classes and have a breastfeeding support group that meets regularly.

Your Certified Lactation Consultants

Our lactation consultants are certified by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBCLE) and are also registered nurses. They are well-trained to handle the basics of breastfeeding as well as the more challenging situations. You have access to them via a consultation prior to your delivery, during your stay, and after you go home. The lactation consultants work closely with the nurses in labor delivery and in the NICU to ensure a positive breastfeeding experience for you and your baby. They are available to help at all three of our hospitals.

The Benefits of Breastfeeding

Many health specialists besides the World Health Organization and the United Nations’ Children’s Fund advise mothers to breastfeed, when possible. For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics advocates breastfeeding, as does the U.S. Surgeon General, who recommends exclusive breastfeeding babies for the first six months of life and beyond the first year. Many healthcare experts believe that it’s optimal to breastfeed for 12 months or longer, depending on you and your baby’s needs.

The benefits to your baby include:

  • When it comes to nutrition, breast milk is the ultimate food for your baby. As your baby grows, your breast milk also changes to adapt to the baby’s nutritional needs.
  • Breast milk enhances the baby’s immune system and promotes wellness – it helps prevent illnesses including intestinal tract infections, ear infections, allergies, skin conditions, and respiratory infections. It also reduces the risk of more serious illnesses, such as childhood cancer, meningitis, juvenile diabetes, and other acute chronic diseases.
  • Studies indicate that breastfeeding greatly reduces the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).
  • Breastfeeding enhances a baby’s physical development, from encouraging the development of straighter teeth to helping brain development.

The benefits for you include:

  • Breastfeeding allows you to respond quickly to your baby’s need for nourishment. It is convenient, and it is free!
  • Breastfeeding has many physical benefits for a new mother. The long-term benefits to mothers who breastfeed have reduced risk of breast, ovarian, cervical, and endometrial cancers. They also have less chance of osteoporosis.
  • Breastfeeding also enhances your everyday health, by reducing your risk of anemia. It also helps you metabolically: moms who breastfeed return to their pre-pregnancy weight faster.
  • While breastfeeding, you have a great opportunity to bond with your child, and to enhance your emotional relationship.

Maternity Care

Our hospital teams of well-trained providers, nurses, and support staff are friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. From the moment you tour our birth center, you’ll feel the warm support that we cultivate for our clients. When you birth with us, you’ll get your own all-in-one birthing room that’s big enough for you and your partner.

We stay up-to-date on the latest technology while also prioritizing our commitment to person-centered care. Our teams will make sure that you and your baby receive the best care, which means we’ll be there to listen, support, and help you through this exciting time.

The Best Care for Our Community Families

Childbirth classes and more: We offer childbirth classes at all our hospitals, as well as a selection of other classes including breastfeeding.  We even offer a class to help you stop smoking. We want you and your family to have a successful pregnancy, birth, and beyond!

Cozy birthing rooms: Our birth suites are all-in-one, meaning that you can settle into your birthing room without needing to be disrupted after your baby is born. We focus on comfort and convenience, so you can focus on giving birth and recovering. There’s plenty of room for your support person, and they’re welcome to stay overnight with you.

Caring support: Our nurses are trained and skilled in everything you’ll need throughout labor, birth, and postpartum, and they deliver that care with compassion. We have lactation consultant nurses available to help you get the best start with breastfeeding your new little one.

Pain management options: We have anesthesiologists available for pain relief, as well as alternative therapies to help you cope. Our birthing center has labor tubs available for relaxation, and you can request other alternate therapies and pain relief options to get smoothly through your birth experience.

Extra help for your little one: We are ready for anything that might happen during your birth, including the unlikely event that your baby might need a little extra help. Located at our hospital in Lewiston, Central Maine Medical Center, our providers and nurses are ready to receive your precious baby to care for him or her. We are available around the clock and provide care for premature babies (35 or more weeks of gestation) and those with special needs.

HUGS ® security system: Your safety and security are an important concern to us, so we use the HUGS ® system of infant security. Newborns have an electronic tag attached to one foot, which allows them to be monitored 24/7. Our birthing center is a locked unit, with secure systems of checking in and out, and we also require our team members to wear photo ID badges.

Quality and complete postpartum care: After your baby is born, we will work with you to establish breastfeeding and ensure that you have the community resources that you need to be a successful new parent. After you leave the hospital, you’ll still have easy access to our team for any questions you might have about your recovery or the health of your new little bundle of joy.

Our Birthing Center at Central Maine Medical Center

At Central Maine Healthcare, you’ll receive the best care in our birthing unit whether this is your first baby or are adding another child to your family. Our birthing rooms are designed to enhance privacy and comfort. We include amenities such as labor tubs located close to your room, which help ease you through labor and television to help pass the time. We encourage your partner, coach or another family member to stay overnight.

We offer a variety of special comforts to help with labor, breastfeeding support, and the best in postpartum care. You can rest easy knowing that we offer 24-hour cesarean services for those rare emergencies and a Level 2 neonatal intensive care unit. Our hospital also includes the newest in technology to ensure that your family is safe and cozy throughout their stay.

Need an OB/GYN? Find a caring provider anytime online.

To schedule a tour of our birth center call 207-795-2528.

Baby-Friendly Designation

Central Maine Medical Center has earned the designation of Baby-Friendly, which is an initiative put together and sponsored by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The central goal of the Baby-Friendly initiative is to promote breastfeeding. As a result, we provide new mothers with optimal care, information, and instruction so they can successfully breastfeed their babies. Our Baby-Friendly hospital achieved this designation in recent years. By being “baby-friendly,” it means that we have gone the extra steps to meet guidelines including comprehensive training of our team members.

The Baby-Friendly initiative was started because of extensive medical research that shows that breastfeeding promotes good health throughout life, for babies and nursing mothers. As part of our Baby-Friendly practices, we have 24-hour rooming in, where baby stays in your room throughout your stay so that you learn about your new baby’s feeding cues. We strive to promote mother-infant bonding. We encourage skin-to-skin care, a practice that enhances bonding and encourages more feeds between mother and baby. We also recognize that not all new mothers will be able to breastfeed – be assured that we are here to assist you with formula feeding, as well.

If you have never breastfed a baby, our nurses are skilled at basic breastfeeding assistance and lactation consultants will provide follow-up care to ensure that mom and baby are doing well. We can show you how best to hold your baby, how to help him/her latch on, and how to express milk. As a Baby-Friendly hospital, we offer numerous and free resources to help breastfeeding moms. Check our Childbirth Education Events Calendar for information about breastfeeding classes, and our breastfeeding support group. And after you leave to go home, remember, our lactation consultants are just a phone call away.

We also offer breastfeeding classes that are open to any expectant mother who is considering breastfeeding her baby. Women who attend are strongly encouraged to bring their support person to the class. Topics covered in the class include the benefits of breastfeeding, skills and techniques during the first days of breastfeeding, and breast care.