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Visiting Hours
12pm-8pm
Immediate Family Only

Whether you're having your first baby, or you're an experienced mom, we know you're happily preparing for this very special event.

At Meritus Medical Center, we're ready to welcome your baby into the world with our Special Care Nursery.

You can take comfort in knowing your newborn will be in experienced hands if your baby arrives early or has medical complications. Should the unexpected happen, a neonatologist is available along with a team of skilled neonatal nurses to care for your baby. It's reassuring to know that babies requiring special care don't have to leave the area for treatment or be separated from their mom and family.

The Special Care Nursery allows babies born as early as 32 weeks gestation to be treated at Meritus Medical Center. In addition to treating premature or low birth weight newborns, our neonatologists care for twins or triplets and babies with unexpected medical complications arising during delivery.

Some of our smallest patients will have begun their lives far away from home in the NICU of a large city. As soon as they are medically stable, they can transfer to Meritus Medical Center to return closer to their families in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington County.

The Special Care Nursery is fully equipped with the latest technology, including cardiac monitors, phototherapy lights for elevated bilirubin levels, warming units, resuscitation care centers, IV infusion pumps, isolettes, CPAP generators, and ventilators.

Doctors from Neonatology Associates provide neonatology services to the Special Care Nursery. Neonatology Associates is a medical practice specializing in intensive care for high-risk babies. There are nine board certified neonatologists in the practice, which opened in 1996. In addition to Meritus Medical Center, they staff the nurseries at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital and Peninsula Regional Medical Center.

It's nice knowing that while you're preparing for your new arrival, Meritus Medical Center is preparing too. Because sometimes, it's the smallest patients who need the greatest care.

"The Neonatal nursery is extremely important for this growing, vibrant community. With this busy obstetric service the babies and their families will benefit. We know that the babies that stay in a community hospital and are receiving safe care, and do not have to undergo the process of transport into a city hospital, have better outcomes. It's our privilege to be involved in the care of this hospital. The team is very happy and comfortable managing these babies in our community." -James Rost, MD