Getting Ready

Hospital Pre-registration
Pre-registration allows for streamlined admission to the hospital. Simply fill out a pre-registration form with your healthcare provider information. We will handle the rest.

For more information or to request a form, call Sibley’s pre-registration team at (202) 537-4190. If you have questions about costs, please call one of our Financial Counselors at (202) 537-4160. If you do not yet have an Obstetrician, please call (202) 537-4638 and we can recommend one who delivers at Sibley.

Labor and Delivery

Childbirth in Comfortable and Secure Surroundings
Our birthing rooms combine a comfortable environment with advanced medical technology. You and your partner will labor, give birth and recover in one location where everything is designed to help you feel at ease. Amenities in each room include a birthing bed, rocking and reclining chairs, telephone, television and a shower with water massage.

Our dedicated nurses work alongside your physician or midwife to help you stay comfortable and to offer expert guidance and support. While most couples spend their entire labor and delivery in a birthing room, Sibley also offers state-of-the-art delivery rooms equipped for Cesarean births or complicated deliveries. A full range of pain relief measures is available, including epidural anesthesia, administered by board-certified anesthesiologists who are available 24-hours a day. While here, your baby will be under the care of a board-certified neonatologist—a pediatrician with advanced training in the care of newborns. Upon your discharge, the neonatologist will provide a written report to your pediatrician. If it is your preference—and your private pediatrician has privileges at Sibley—he or she may attend to your child after birth.

A Family-Centered Approach
We listen, we understand and we respond to the wishes of the families who come here. Your partner is a welcome participant in labor and delivery and may spend the night during recovery. Siblings, other family members and friends are invited to join you during our regular visiting hours—1:00pm to 8:30pm every day. Your baby will stay with you in your room, unless you request otherwise.

Rest and Recovery
Our postpartum rooms are the ideal place for you and your baby to continue bonding. Many are private and your partner is welcome. During recovery, you will be in the care of experienced nurses who are ready to encourage, to educate, to demonstrate and to help. You will also receive individual support in breast and bottle-feeding. Breastfeeding classes are offered daily and certified lactation consultants are available during your stay as well as after you leave.

Special Needs
If your baby has special needs, he or she will be cared for in our level-two Special Care Nursery by experienced neonatal nurses and neonatologists who are at Sibley 24-hours a day. The nursery is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and is staffed round-the-clock. Parents are welcome in the Special Care Nursery and encouraged to spend as much time as possible with their babies. A neonatologist attends all complicated deliveries and Cesarean births and provides ongoing medical care for babies with special needs.

Going Home

Vital Statistics
Before discharge, you will be asked to complete your baby’s birth certificate and fill out an application for a Social Security number. If you need information after discharge, call Medical Records at (202) 537-4784.

Ongoing Support
Even after you leave, we continue to help. We can arrange for lactation consultations, home healthcare, car seats, baby monitors and other support. We also offer Baby & Me groups for mothers of infants and toddlers, infant CPR training and more. We are happy to refer you to additional community resources as you need them.

To find an obstetrician, please use our Physician Directory.

Click here to find out more about Sibley's Childbirth and Baby Classes.