Woman’s Hospital of Texas planning expansion projects amid baby boom
The Woman’s Hospital of Texas is bucking national trends by delivering more babies and spending about $60 million on expansion and renovation projects to accommodate its rising birth rate, hospital leaders said.
Births at the hospital rose 4 percent from 2019 to 2020, even as they fell by 8 percent nationally, according to census data. In 2022, about 11,300 babies were born at Woman’s Hospital of Texas, up 5 percent in the last six years
“It’s a little counterintuitive because everyone was expecting the birth rate to drop,” said hospital CEO Elizabeth Ortega.
U.S. births have declined for nearly two decades, with the decline becoming steeper after the pandemic hit and the economic outlook for many Americans turned bleak.
But, Ortega said, they are on the rise at Woman’s Hospital for two reasons. First, the hospital offers fertility services such as invitro fertilization, and second, more pregnant women needed acute care after contracting COVID-19, which can cause pregnancy complications
Woman’s Hospital is among four hospitals in the region with a level IV designation from the state, meaning it’s equipped with the staff and facilities to provide care for some of the most complex pregnancies.
“With COVID we have had a lot of sick moms,” Ortega said. “They need additional monitoring, additional medications and they also need to be able to deliver quickly if that’s what is necessary.”
The hospital pumped millions of dollars in projects to expand the number of beds. It has added 16 labor and delivery room bringing the total to 49, which were completed at the end of 2020, and two C-section operating rooms bringing the total to nine.
When the delta variant was spreading, doctors across Houston and Southern states reported seeing an increase of pregnant women contracting COVID. In the fall, only about 25 percent
of pregnant women ages 18 to 49 have received at least one vaccine dose nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — less than half the national average for that age group.
The hospital anticipates more babies will be born in its delivery rooms, and has more projects in the pipeline.
Ortega said she expects the hospital will invest another million for the next phase of development, which includes expanding the postpartum unit by 42 beds and the neonatal intensive care unit by 20 beds.
Because of supply chain disruptions, the hospital has not set a definitive schedule for completion of the project, but Ortega estimates it will be done in the next two years.
The latest addition to the campus is a new five-story, 125,000-square-foot medical office building on the campus, which will open in March.
The building includes a comprehensive cancer center, located on the first floor, which is slated to open in the late summer.