Labor and Delivery Support Person Policies During COVID

So much is happening right now! Like, an overwhelming amount of things. If you are pregnant right now and giving birth in a hospital you might be aware that one of the things happening is that the Labor and Delivery policies keep changing! No support people, one support person, two support people but they have to stay in the room with you throughout the whole labor. Yes you must be healthy, no you don’t have to wear masks. We’ve reached out to the two big hospital networks and a handful of independent hospitals in the area to find out what their policies are as of July 15th, and here is what we found out. We encourage you to call your hospital directly because policies change daily, though we will do our best to keep this information as up to date as possible. 

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Intermountain Hospitals: One named support person is allowed in the delivery. They can come and go throughout the delivery (though they are encouraged to stay) however you cannot switch out support people (the person you go in with is YOUR PERSON). Both you and your support person will be screened for fever, cough, etc before delivery and if your support person has a fever (or other symptoms) they will not be allowed at the delivery. Intermountain Hospitals include:

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Mountain Star Hospitals: Currently 2 support persons are allowed. They must be healthy and they must stay for the duration of the labor. Support people cannot be switched out. This is subject to change based on what the hospital network feels is best. The current letter to patients regarding these policies can be found here however, this is out
of date. Please, if you are delivering at a Mountain Star Hospital call their Labor and Delivery unit and ask what their current policies are.

There are also independent hospitals with their own policies and procedures. University of Utah hospital (or the U) is only allowing 1 healthy support person and they must stay for the duration of labor. Mountain Point Medical Center however, is allowing up to 2 support people at a birth. The support people can come and go as needed, however they are the only ones allowed at the birth. 

This is complicated, and hard, and frustrating. Being pregnant can be all those things at the best of times. We at Wasatch Mountain Birth Boot Camp hopes this makes things, if not easier, then at least clearer. We’re here to support you however we can. 

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