At 39 weeks’ gestation, babies in the womb are considered to be fully developed. However, mothers across the country are delivering babies before that critical time.

Liberty Regional Medical Center has recently joined the March of Dimes’ “Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait” program, which promotes reducing elective deliveries before 39 weeks.

A premature birth is determined to be less than 37 weeks’ gestation.

The March of Dimes, whose mission is to prevent birth defects and stop premature births globally, listed Georgia on their website as having an overall grade of “D” for their premature birth rate in 2014.

Of the five cities listed, Savannah had a preterm rate of 11 percent and Atlanta was at 11.5 percent, with Georgia having an overall average rate of 10.8 percent.  

“So if you look at the U.S. in general, prematurity is the highest cost to facility, the federal government, everybody,” said Dr. Seth Borquaye, the hospital’s chief of perinatal services before the Liberty County Hospital Authority meeting Tuesday. “So for the past years, governments, hospitals, … states have been trying to cut back on prematurity.”

“So the idea was that babies born after 39 weeks, the chance of prematurity is rare. … Therefore, they are encouraging all hospitals, all agencies, the American College of OB/GYN, is pushing that no physician should deliver babies before 39 weeks if the patients are not in labor. And that way is going to save the states billions and billions of dollars in neonatal care costs. And it’s also basically going to help with our Medicaid and all those things.”

Dr. Patrice Moore in perinatal services says that the No. 1 challenge is educating patients on why they are pushing for delivery at 39 weeks.
“Because a lot of patients, they will say to you, ‘Well, I delivered my baby at 37 weeks and just fine,’ but we don’t know if the kid is just fine,” she said.

Borquaye said LRMC works to educate patients about when they are truly in labor and the best time to deliver in order to have healthy babies.

“If you’re not in labor, it’s better to keep that baby in a week or more because it’s better for the baby,” he said. “Because, you see, the lung maturity is the last thing to mature, and that’s why prematurity happens.”

Though the hospital does not keep statistics on the average gestation period of the babies who are delivered there, Moore, Borquaye, and nurse Jan St. John, director of perinatal services, agreed that the majority are past 39 weeks.

The hospital also works to educate and promote breastfeeding and skin-to-skin bonding right after birth between mother and baby, starting at their first visit.

“It’s a new concept, especially more for the rural hospitals,” St. John said of the skin-to-skin bonding. “It’s a new concept that’s come out, but it’s being encouraged because with the skin-to-skin right after delivery, it regulates the baby’s vital signs, help starts the bonding process with mom and baby.”

Rene Harwell, the hospital’s director of marketing, said LRMC is the only rural critical-access hospital in Georgia that still delivers babies.

So providing quality care in a rural area, “is a serious issue because Georgia is a rural state,” Borquaye said.

For mothers who are interested in receiving resources for their pregnancy or young children, the hospital offers a new program called “First Steps.”

“It’s a resource program. … Mothers can enroll in it at their first OB appointment, and they will follow them through their pregnancy, follow them through postpartum up to five years,” St. John said. “And it’s an avenue for them to be in contact. If there’s any type of resource that they need, they can help them get it.”