Labor and Delivery
Join the family of Buckeye Babies
Because birth is a family event, your partner and family are included in the birth experience as much as possible here at the Maternity Center at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. We provide the comforts of home with the most advanced technology and experienced staff to give you the highest level of care, and peace of mind.
More than 5,200 Buckeye Babies were born at our Maternity Center last year. Our patients include women having vaginal deliveries, cesarean deliveries, vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) deliveries and high-risk deliveries including multiples and preterm deliveries.
Maternity Center in-person tour
Join us for a tour of our Maternity Center including the labor and delivery and postpartum areas. You’ll gain an understanding of what to expect during your stay, and we’ll explain where to park and how to get to the labor and delivery floor when you are ready to have your baby. Registration is free and includes you and your support person. Children are not permitted to attend tours at this time.
Tour length: 45 minutes
Pregnancy and childbirth education
At Ohio State, we offer helpful educational materials and classes to prepare you for labor, birth and caring for your new baby.
Maternity Center video tour
Maternity Center virtual tour in Spanish/Espanol.
Visitor policy
In addition to the general hospital visitor policy, labor and delivery has special visitor allowances and procedures. View labor and delivery visitor policy.
Parking
When coming to the hospital during normal hours, we recommend you park in the 12th Avenue Garage at 340 W. 12th Ave. and enter the hospital through the ground floor entrance opposite the parking garage. Take the Doan Hall elevator to the sixth floor. Please note: The 12th Ave. hospital entrance closes at 5 p.m.
You may also park in the SAFEAUTO Garage and enter the hospital through the 10th Avenue main hospital entrance. Take the Doan Hall elevator to the sixth floor.
After hours arrival
If arriving between 5 p.m. and 6 a.m., please enter the hospital through the Emergency Department, which is located on the north side of The James, accessible from 12th Avenue via the road between the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute and Harding Hospital (Davis Drive). We recommend that you valet park. You can also self-park in the nearby 12th Avenue Garage and take the covered pedestrian walkway on the ground level to the Emergency Department entrance.
Download a map of the temporary entrance to the Emergency Department.