Empowering More Expecting Mothers with Choice
A cornerstone of Hoag’s leading, comprehensive maternal child services, the Fudge Family Birthing Suites offer a unique, holistic experience. Increasingly, expecting women in Irvine and throughout Orange County are choosing Hoag’s Fudge Family Birthing Suites for its integrated support, beautiful and home-like atmosphere, and the opportunity for more choice in their birthing experience.
By design, the Fudge Family Birthing Suites model empowers women to be part of their birth process and plan. Staff who are patient advocates first bring expecting mothers into the decision-making process and encourage them to advocate for themselves as well, all of which contributes to a more positive and affirming experience.
With access to the expert maternal child clinical services that have made Hoag Orange County’s top choice for maternity care, the Fudge Family Birthing Suites are the best of both worlds, merging the home-birth feel with the safety and reliability of a hospital. The quality of care provided is also reflected in Hoag’s high rating with the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, which assesses maternal outcomes at hospitals across California. Since its opening, the Fudge Family Birthing Suites’ rating has risen by more than 40%, steadily increasing year after year.
Through the thoughtful contributions and the inspiration of donors like you, special touches, like tealight candles and string lights, soft gowns and robes, and lovely lotions and bath products, create a welcoming, serene atmosphere intended to communicate to every patient that she is valued.
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I was given time to process and ask questions. I never felt pressured and always felt that things were being done with me and not to me.”
Patient Spotlight
Hannah, an ICU nurse at Hoag, welcomed her baby at the Fudge Family Birthing Suites in January. After a long labor, four hours of pushing, and a delivery that ended in an urgent C-section, Hannah shared that she never felt left out of any decisions being made about the plan of care for the safe delivery of her baby.
Because of her experience at the Fudge Family Birthing Suites, Hannah plans to train in the maternal child health specialty and join Hoag’s labor and delivery nursing team when she returns from maternity leave.
Transforming Birthing Practices
In the Tsao Family Garden, laboring patients benefit from the soothing tranquility of a natural environment and the ability to move around more freely, which can be especially beneficial for patients undergoing a longer labor not aided by medical intervention. Thanks to donor support, this garden and the role of movement during labor have transformed the entire unit and continue to inform birthing practices at Hoag. Recently, 20 Hoag labor and delivery nurses from the Fudge Family Birthing Suites attended the Bundle Birth Conference to learn more about specific movements during labor that help position the baby for delivery.
“ Having the opportunity to take the physiologic labor course by Bundle Birth nurses gave me so much practical knowledge on how to better assist my patients in coping with labor and achieving successful vaginal deliveries by utilizing the body’s natural anatomy and physiology. I feel so much better equipped to not only help my patients have the experience they dream of for their labor and delivery but also help my colleagues and every patient on the unit.”
- Hannah Whitaker, RN Fudge Family Birthing Suites
Holistic Interventions
Approximately 25% of Fudge Family Birthing Suites patients choose to deliver with midwives. These patients also tend to opt for holistic support during labor and prefer methods outside of medical pain management or other interventions to support a natural birth. Studies show that aromatherapy and various essential oils can have a profound impact on the effects of labor and its accompanying pain.
Lavender, for example, has been shown to reduce pain and inflammation, provide headache relief, improve mood, and reduce feelings of anxiety or stress. Your support is helping to expand offerings like these, allowing for individualized and tailored care for patients and broadening options to promote relaxation and pain management.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the donors whose generosity is providing us with the ability to give quality care that is above and beyond. Our goal is to make every new mom we welcome feel heard, valued, and like they are coming home when they come to Hoag. Philanthropy makes this a reality at the Fudge Family Birthing Suites and has been crucial to ensure an incredible experience for every patient as the number of women who choose to deliver at the Fudge Family Birthing Suites continues to grow. As a nurse, you walk through the doors to provide incredible care to your patients, and when you have the tools, resources, and support to do so, it makes it all so much more meaningful.”
-Michelle Laurel, RNC-OB, MSN Director of Nursing, LDRP Fudge Family Birthing Suites
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The Growth of the Fudge Family Birthing Suites
What Patients Are Saying
“I was very pleased with my hospital stay at Hoag Irvine. It exceeded my expectations! Best of the best!”
“Great experience overall! Lucky to have my baby at such a great hospital. Thank you, Hoag!”
“I really liked the chocolate cakes and afternoon tea! I think the honey teas made me recover sooner. Overall, everyone from the Hoag crew was awesome and professional. Thanks!”
2021 2022 2023 Total Deliveries: Vaginal Deliveries C-Sections Midwife Births 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 1,262 1,687 2,081 1,017* 1,249* 1,545* *One set of twins **Five sets of twins ***Seven sets of twins 244 432** 528*** 314 398 505
2021 2022 2023 Total Deliveries: Vaginal Deliveries C-Sections Midwife Births
Program Spotlight: Hoag’s Maternal Mental Health Program
A commitment to whole-person care guides Hoag’s comprehensive maternal child health services. This is reflected in physical spaces like the Fudge Family Birthing Suites as well as Hoag’s broad range of programs and services that facilitate a holistic approach to a healthy pregnancy and ensure the right support after birth, throughout the first year of motherhood, and beyond.
One of these resources is the Maternal Mental Health Program, which served 645 new patients in 2023. To continue to meet the needs of our patients, the program recently incorporated a group therapy model, which is enhancing outcomes for patients under care for postpartum depression and anxiety and fostering a sense of community and connection. Participants are evaluated in advance to ensure each member of the cohort is starting from a similar place.
Available to mothers who deliver at Hoag Newport and the Fudge Family Birthing Suites in Irvine, the six-week group therapy program is facilitated by a licensed therapist who guides participants through a skill-building curriculum and discussion. To best accommodate the preferences of postpartum mothers, the group meets virtually, although moms often exchange personal information and choose to meet in person outside of the group, building strong friendships and providing additional support.
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Despite the crucial need for mental health services, our specialty does not reimburse as well as other specialties in the fee-for-service based model of U.S. health care. Our doors would not remain open without philanthropy. Every day, I meet struggling mothers, but with the right help, they improve and even surpass their own conception of what it means to be well.”
- Mercedes Szpunar, MD, PhD Physician Director, Hoag Maternal Mental Health Program
Maternal Mental Health by the Numbers
200 Average number of moms seen weekly
130
Total group session s
51 Postpartum mothers served through group therapy
Group Therapy Results That Matter
of par ticipants said the group had a positive impact o n their life and mental health
88%
89% 75% 75%
of moms said their emotional and mental well-being improved following therapy
of attendees felt less isolated in their postpartum experience following the group of participants felt more confident as a parent as a result of the group
