Enjoy a Private, State-of-the-Art Delivery Experience

Having a baby is one of life’s big moments, and where you choose to deliver your baby can make a difference. At the Cherese Mari Laulhere BirthCare Center, we’re there for you every step of the way, whether it’s a routine or complex pregnancy. Throughout your birthing journey, our team provides compassionate, quality care tailored to your birth plan, preferences, and needs.

Choose the Best for You and Your Baby

Choose the experienced team at the BirthCare Center. We’ll be there for you prenatal, postpartum, and every moment -- big or little -- in between.

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Choosing the Best for You & Your Baby

award badgeMiller Children’s & Women’s has been recognized as High Performing in Maternity Care (Uncomplicated Pregnancy) by U.S. News & World Report. Miller Children’s & Women’s is unique as it’s the only hospital of its kind in the region bringing together maternity and pediatric specialty services under one roof to keep the family unit connected — which is crucially important when high-risk maternity care, pediatric specialty and neonatal intensive care are needed by mom and baby.

Our BirthCare Center

Resources

Coming to the Hospital
What to Bring

You should have a small bag, containing the personal articles you wish to bring to the hospital packed and ready to go. These may include:

For You

  • Pajama tops or short nighties (remember to buy appropriate nursing gowns if you will be breastfeeding)
  • Robe and slippers (washable)
  • Toiletries:
    • Toothpaste/toothbrush
    • Shampoo/conditioner
    • Soap
    • Deodorant
    • Shower cap
  • Two bras (remember nursing bras, if you’re nursing — they are available at our breastfeeding supply store)
  • Clothing to go home in (bring some of your early maternity clothes)

For Your Baby

  • Car Seat
    • All babies who are discharged from the hospital must go home in a car seat. Miller Children’s & Women's will not let a baby leave the hospital if there is not proof of one. It also is recommended that car seat and safety belt laws are followed for any child that leaves the hospital in a car.
  • One outfit to go home in
  • One blanket
  • One T-shirt
Where to Park

When you are ready to deliver, you will enter the hospital through the Cherese Mari Laulhere BirthCare Center entrance, which is on Columbia St. between Atlantic Ave. and Long Beach Blvd. There are a few designated parking spots where you can park while you check in.

After you have been checked in to a birthing suite, the car you arrived in will need to be moved. Have your partner in care or another family member, move your car to the main visitor parking lot on Memorial Medical Center Dr.

Once the car is parked, your partner in care will enter through the main Long Beach Medical Center lobby and take the elevators to the 2nd Floor turning right when they exit. A second check-in is not necessary, but your visitor badge is required.

Photography & Videography

We know the birth of your baby is a special time, and realize many families may want to photograph, video record or otherwise preserve this important moment. However, the care team has the right to be excluded from recordings and may not wish to be photographed. Therefore, please discuss plans/preferences for recording prior to the delivery of your child. Additionally, recordings may at times interfere with their ability to provide urgently needed care to the birth parent and baby, so the staff also reserve the right to require you to stop recording even if consent had been previously granted. Posting images of our staff on social media is not permitted. Also, recording of other patients is never allowed.

Newborn Photos

Newborn photos are available on Mom365.com

Visiting Guidelines

The BirthCare Center is committed to providing a safe, compassionate and nurturing environment during the birth experience. We consider visitors an integral part of the mother’s experience.

Note: Under certain circumstances, the hospital may restrict or limit visitation privileges to ensure the health and safety of patients, staff and visitors.

Labor Evaluation

One support person may accompany patient.

Labor & Delivery

Upon admission to Labor & Delivery, each birth parent may designate up to three support persons (including a doula). The support persons will remain unchanged throughout the course of labor and can stay with the birth parent for the duration of labor and birth (not subject to hospital visiting hours).

Support persons will be identified with a green wristband. Only persons with the green wristband will be admitted into the Labor & Delivery Suite.

Children of the birth parent may be admitted (except for flu season restrictions), but will be considered one (or more) of the three support persons. All children in Labor & Delivery must be under the care and supervision of one adult support person designated by the birth parent.

Postpartum Care Unit & Perinatal Special Care Unit

The birth parent may have unlimited support persons (including children except for flu season restrictions) during normal hospital visiting hours under the following conditions:

  • Support persons will be limited to three in the room at one time (including the primary support person).
  • Only the primary support person will be allowed during Cuddle Time, which is observed daily from 1 - 4 p.m. in the Postpartum Care Unit.
  • Only the primary support person will be allowed during shift change.
  • Only the primary support person can remain after hours.

*Special considerations may be made at unit leader discretion, including but not limited to end-of-life situations.

Photography & Videography

Your care team has the right to be excluded from recordings and may not wish to be photographed. Please discuss plans/preferences for recording prior to the delivery of your child. The staff also reserves the right to require you to stop recording, even if consent had been previously granted, if it interferes with the ability to provide urgently needed care. Posting images of our staff on social media is not permitted. Recording of other patients is never allowed.

Your Pregnancy Guide & A New Beginning Booklet

Your Pregnancy Guide

Your Pregnancy Guide is filled with information, tips and answers to most questions for every step of your pregnancy journey.

A New Beginning - Your Personal Guide to Caring for Yourself & Your Baby

In an effort to increase education, we provide moms with a new education book after delivery. It has a wealth of information about postpartum changes, breastfeeding education, postpartum depression, baby care, immunization, and car seat safety. We hope this helps ease the transition between the hospital and home with a new baby.

In addition, with our messaging service, you will receive messages, reminders, notes, health surveys, and other useful health education directly from your healthcare team to your mobile device after you leave the hospital.

Birth Certificates
Birth Certificates

Birth certificate copies are not available through the hospital.

Depending on when you or your child was born, you will need to contact either:

  • City of Long Beach
  • Los Angeles County Recorder’s Office
  • County of Orange Health Care Agency
  • Orange County Clerk-Recorder

Born within one year at Miller Children’s & Women's:
City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services
(562) 570-4305

Born more than a year ago at Miller Children’s & Women's:
Los Angeles County Recorder’s Office
(562) 462-2137 or (562) 462-2103

California Paternity Opportunity Program

The California Paternity Opportunity Program (POP) was established in 1995 to comply with federal mandate (Title 42 United States Code (USC) 666(a)(5)(C)) that requires every state to operate a simple system to establish paternity, or a legal determination for fatherhood for unmarried biological parents. For more than 24 years, California’s POP has helped over 3.4 million parents establish legal paternity.

When parents are unmarried, there are only two ways to establish legal paternity: through the court system, or by signing a Declaration of Paternity, (CS 909). POP provides an unmarried mother and a biological father the opportunity to voluntarily establish legal paternity for their child by signing a Declaration of Paternity (CS 909). Participation in POP free of charge, and voluntarily signing a CS 909 significantly decreases the time and money required to establish legal paternity through the court process. A signed CS 909 has the same force and effect as a judgement for paternity issued by a court. Although the POP program resides under the California Department of Child Support Services, POP is not involved with the judicial method of establishing paternity, genetic testing, custody, financial or child support aspects.

When parents are unmarried, the father must complete a CS 909 or provide proof of a court order establishing paternity before adding his name to a birth certificate. The Federal Welfare Reform Act requires that a Declaration of Paternity form be signed by both parents in the presence of a witness and/or notarized before the father can be added to the birth certificate. California Health and Safety Code 102425(a)(C) states, “If the parents are not married to each other, the father’s name shall not be listed on the birth certificate unless the father and the mother sign a voluntary declaration of paternity at the hospital before the birth certificate is submitted for registration. The birth certificate may be amended to add the father’s name at a later date only if paternity for the child has been established by a judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction or by the filing of a voluntary declaration of paternity.”

Birthing hospitals are mandated to offer parents the CS 909 in the hospital, upon the birth of their child. POP’s goal is to share information on our program prior to a child’s birth, so that parents are informed prior to completing required documents at the hospital. Our goal is to have parents understand their rights, responsibilities, alternatives, and consequences when signing the form, and to have the opportunity to ask questions and educate themselves prior to completing the CS 909.

Community Resources
Postpartum Organizations
Online Resources
Education & Support
  • Nurturing the New You: Mom & Baby Support Group
    (Parent & Pre-Crawling Babies)
    Free Support Group
    Tuesdays 10 a.m. – noon
    No RSVP Required
    (562) 650-0474
  • Soul Food for Your Baby
    Community organization that empowers African American families to breastfeed with their heart, body, and soul.
  • Transitions in Motherhood Perinatal Mental Health, Long Beach
    Therapeutic Services: individual, couples, families and groups
    Spanish/English
    (562) 650-0474
  • South Bay Center for Counseling, El Segundo
    Therapeutic Services: individual, couples, families and groups
    (310) 414-2090
  • Jewish Family & Children’s Services, Long Beach
    Mental Health Services
    (562) 427-7916
  • St. Joseph Hospital, Orange
    Services for Maternal Depression
    (714) 771-8101
  • Orange County Health Care Agency
    Mental Health Services
    (800) 564-8448
  • The Guidance Center, Long Beach
    Mental Health Services
    (562) 485-3095
  • Pacific Asian Counseling Services
    (310) 337-1550
  • USC Maternal Wellness Clinic
    Maternal Depression Care
    (323) 409-5370
  • The National Hopeline Network
    (800) SUICIDE (784-2433)
Books on Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders
  • This Isn’t What I Expected
    Karen Kleiman, MSW, and Valerie Raskin, M.D.
  • Beyond the Blues: A Guide to Understanding and Treating Prenatal and Postpartum Depression
    Pec Indman, MFT, and Shoshanna Bennett, PhD
  • The Mother to Mother Postpartum Depression Support Book
    Sandra Poulin
  • The Postpartum Husband: Practical Solutions for Living with Postpartum Depression
    Karen Kleiman, MSW
  • Life Will Never Be The Same: The Real Mom’s Postpartum Survival Guide
    Ann L. Dunnewold, PhD, and Diane G. Sanford, PhD
  • Shouldn’t I Be Happy? Emotional Problems of Pregnancy and Postpartum Women
    Shaila Misri, M.D.
  • Non-Pharmacologic Treatments for Depression in New Mothers
    Kathleen Kendall-Tacket, PhD, IBCLC

Centers & Programs

Your Care Team

Miller Children’s & Women's works with a team of highly trained obstetricians and family medicine physicians. The perinatal and maternity care teams are sensitive to the needs of women and committed to providing a high level of patient-and-family-centered care.

Obstetricians & Family Medicine Physicians

Other Team Members

Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialists

Miller Children’s & Women's offers a team of highly trained obstetricians, maternal-fetal medicine specialists (perinatologists), neonatologists, pediatricians, nurses and other specialists. The perinatal and maternity care teams are sensitive to the needs of women and committed to providing a high level of patient and family-centered care.

A maternal-fetal medicine specialist, or perinatologist, is an obstetrician who specializes in treating the fetus/baby and mother during pregnancy, labor and delivery, particularly when the mother and/or baby are at a high-risk for complications.

Currently providing services within Miller Children’s & Women's.

OB Hospitalists

Miller Children’s & Women’s is proud to have a team of OB hospitalists (laborists) on-site 24/7. OB hospitalists are solely dedicated to treating women for obstetrical issues, most often labor. These physicians do not see patients in an office, and only work in a hospital to oversee various obstetrical issues when needed. OB hospitalists provide care when a patient’s primary OB-GYN can’t get to the hospital in a timely manner. They are the trained experts on hand should an emergency arise. 

OB hospitalists have extensive obstetrical training and significant experience in safe delivery techniques useful in difficult situations, such as a baby in breech position, multiple births, and extended labor. They can stay through the day or night with a woman in labor to help avoid unnecessary C-sections. Since the waiting time for births is unpredictable, and if the woman’s regular physician has to leave, the OB hospitalist can stay to guide the birth. 

Individual OB-GYN practices determine their use of the OB hospitalist service, so it isn’t guaranteed that a woman in labor will see an OB hospitalist, or which one they will see. 

Meet Our OB Hospitalists

Lactation Consultants

Lactation consultants are board-certified nurses who have advanced training in breastfeeding management. All lactation consultants are experienced in counseling, teaching and problem solving with latching or other breastfeeding issues for breastfeeding mothers.

Awards & Recognition

Level IV
Maternity Center
Designation from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
for a comprehensive maternity center
Level IV
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Designation from the American Academy of Pediatrics for providing
the highest level of care for premature babies
Center of Excellence AwardCenter of Excellence from Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP)
Four-year designation recognizing excellence in obstetric anesthesia care
Honor Roll AwardMaternity Care Honor Roll from the California Health & Human Services Agency, Hospital Quality Institute, and CalHospital Compare - awarded for achieving the statewide C-section rate of 23.9% or lower for low-risk, first-birth deliveries
CMQCC Excellence AwardCalifornia Maternal Quality Care Collaborative Super Star & Early Implementers Awards - Awarded for submitting data for six consecutive months and high levels of engagement with the data center