Partly because of the high number of malpractice cases filed the last two years in Illinois, there are few Southern Illinois hospitals with active maternity wards.

The three hospitals that do the most business when it comes to baby deliveries are Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion, Memorial Hospital of Carbondale and St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital in Mount Vernon.

Barb Kimble, director of obstetrics at Heartland Regional Medical Center, said the number of births has spiked considerably over the years.

"If you go back to 1996 (six years prior to the move to the new facility), we delivered only 195 babies that year," Kimble said. "By comparison, we delivered 1,150 last year and are on a pace to better that number this year."

Kimble said hospital officials have invested thousands in upgrading the obstetrics department and marketing the delivery of babies. It has proven to be a successful strategy. Delivery of babies is a moneymaker for the hospital.

Kimble said there are five birthing rooms at Marion, one featuring a Jacuzzi for water births. All rooms are spacious, come with showers and look "much like your bedroom at home," Kimble said.

She added that the hospital also has four outpatient rooms and 12 postpartum rooms as well.

"We do our best to accommodate our patients," Kimble said. "Most of our moms want to go home as early as possible, so we try to coordinate that. Moms generally stay 24 hours after a vaginal birth and about 48 hours after a Cesarean-section birth."

There are four obstetricians on staff at Heartland, Drs. Patrick Sayavong, Michael Schifano, Scott Joyner and Lisa Nolen. Tracy Carr is a certified midwife. There are more than 50 staff members altogether in the O.B. department.

"We have a good team of doctors and staff," said Nolen, who just began working at the hospital last fall. "And I think our patients pick up on the fact that we all have a good working relationship."

Nolen said because the act of labor is labor-intensive - meaning it costs plenty to run a top-notch obstetrics department - many hospitals shy away from them.

"That's why I wanted to come to Marion," she said. "I've known the other docs there about 15 years. I want to help continue the progress that's been made there."

Memorial Hospital of Carbondale peaked in 1997 with more than 2,000 births. There was a slight dip in the numbers for a couple of years and then the numbers began climbing gradually the last couple of years.

Cindy Frenkel, director of obstetrics at Carbondale, said 1,927 births were recorded in 2006, up from 1,868 the previous year. There are seven birthing rooms at Memorial, plus two C-section rooms, five antepartum rooms, 11 private rooms and five semiprivate rooms all available for mothers to be.

"We have a neonatal intensive care unit, which is well equipped to handle those babies born premature," Frankel said. "There have also been staffing increases in the department. We now have 140 employees, including physicians, nurses, C-section techs and in-house anesthesiologists."

Obstetricians on staff include: Drs. Sridevi Panchamukhi, Keith Sanford, Catherine Schneider, Francis Tsung, Frank Walker, Akua Afriyie-Gray, Don Bishop, Paul Cruz, Douglas Gates, Rebecca Hartman, Jeffrey Jones, Sherry Jones and Nick Meyer. Joy Wayman is the nurse midwife.

"We're very conscientious about patient safety, which is why our staff frequently does drills for potential obstetrics emergencies," Frenkel said. "They've made us a lot more efficient. Patient satisfaction is also important. We want to do everything possible to make the stay more relaxing. The rooms are plenty big so that the father or other family member can be with the mother."

Amanda Goostree, director of obstetrics at St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital in Mount Vernon, said more than 700 babies were delivered there last year, a slight increase over the previous year.

"We've been experiencing steady growth pretty much every year," Goostree said. "We have five labor rooms, all large enough so that the family can be part of the experience."

Obstetricians on staff are: Drs. David Walters, Leslie Smith and Calvin Chiu. There are 30 employees altogether. Some pediatricians assist in the deliveries.

"Most mothers are here for 24 hours unless they undergo a C-section birth, which bumps up the stay to 36 or 48 hours in most cases," Goostree said. "We do everything we can to accommodate our patients' wishes."

john.homan@thesouthern.com

351-5805