Gulf Coast Medical Center

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  At Gulf Coast Medical Center, we treat the most important health concerns - yours. We provide healthcare services designed to meet your needs at every stage of your life.
Patients & Visitors
- Patients & Visitors
  Patient care is our most important job. We want to make sure your experience is as pleasant as possible. This section contains information to help make your stay with us as comfortable as possible.
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For Professionals
- For Professionals
  This section is specifically for healthcare professionals, including physicians, mid-level providers, nurses, and other medical professionals.

While You are at the Hospital

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Services
OB Services
While You are at the Hospital

Visitation

Family and friends are an important part of your new baby’s life. We kindly ask that patients and visitors follow hospital rules in regards to visitation. Visiting hours are posted throughout the Women’s Center. This ensures that our staff can give you and your baby the best possible care.

Waiting Rooms

A comfortable waiting room is available for family and friends of laboring mothers. We encourage you or your support person to call and update your family and friends often, as phone calls cannot be transferred into maternity rooms.

Rooms

Your support person and up to two significant others may be present for vaginal deliveries. Other visitors will be limited based on current or seasonal restrictions. Children, siblings, and other visitors are allowed in patient rooms at the judgment of the physician. Please remember that the number of visitors during any situation may be limited by the physician or nursing staff based on a patient’s condition.

Labor, Delivery & Recovery Rooms

At Gulf Coast Medical Center, our goal is to enrich the birth experience for you and your family. Our ten (10) private Labor, Delivery & Recovery rooms offer a safe and supportive environment with a warm, homey décor. We welcome your family and friends to share this exciting event with you, as we believe that childbirth is a family affair. At the same time, we value your privacy and do all we can to ensure your comfort and ease your transition into motherhood.

Cesarean Section

One (1) support person may be present and will be required to wear appropriate surgical apparel and to sit by anesthesia. In case of an emergency, the support person will be asked to wait outside the operating room suites.

Postpartum

A newborn’s immune system is immature. For this reason, we ask that visitors wash their hands before holding your baby. If your family and friends are sick, please ask them not to visit until they are healthy. You can help limit your baby’s exposure to disease by asking family and friends to make child care arrangements before visiting you, as young children tend to be sick more often than adults.

Photography/Videography

Handheld photography is allowed for vaginal deliveries with prior approval from the physician. In the event it becomes necessary and the medical/nursing staff requests, photography will cease until after delivery. No videotaping is allowed during cesarean sections.

Lactation Support

The Women’s Center at Gulf Coast Medical Center employs a Certified Lactation Consultant who can provide information and assistance with regards to the proper care and feeding of your newborn. Please call 850-747-7898 for more information or to schedule an appointment.

Your Baby’s Doctor

Your obstetrician or family practice physician has taken care of you and your baby for the last nine months, but now your baby will need a doctor of his or her own. Many mothers choose their pediatrician and schedule an office before the child is born to discuss their medical history and neonatal care. Your baby’s doctor will examine the baby within a few hours of birth to discuss baby care and schedule his or her first office visit. Contact our physician referral line at 850-747-3600 for assistance in finding a doctor.

Circumcision

Parents of baby boys often choose to have their sons circumcised before they leave the hospital. Please discuss this procedure with your doctor to learn about the advantages, disadvantages and cost.

NICU – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Sometimes, things don’t go as planned. When this happens, it is important to know your baby will be in good hands. Gulf Coast Medical Center has the region’s only NICU Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Level II) for premature infants, or those needing additional care. When a premature childbirth is anticipated or a mother is considered high-risk, our board certified neonatologists and experienced nurses are available to consult with parents and address their questions and concerns.

We have a Neonatologist on call 24-hours a day, and a NICU Baby Hotline (850-747-7712) for families with babies in our care. In addition, Gulf Coast Medical Center has a Neonatal Transport Team available should your baby need to be transported to or from our facility.

Pediatric Care

We provide the specialized expertise of a comprehensive pediatrics team. With the area’s only designated Pediatric ER, plus a 21-bed Pediatric Specialty Unit, Gulf Coast Medical Center is prepared to treat the emergency health care needs of infants, children and adolescents.