KYLE, Texas — Central Texas is growing quickly. While many of us see this growth manifested through terrible traffic and rapid construction, many doctors are witnessing the growth in hospital delivery rooms.
"It's been a very steady uptrend ever since the hospital opened in 2009," said Dr. Jason Bosco, Ascension Seton Hays' maternal medical director.
Bosco said the hospital went from delivering about 50 babies in 2009 to about 150 babies so far in 2023. It has also expanded its team from three OBGYN physicians to what Bosco believes is now 13 physicians in the hospital.
"When we opened the hospital, we weren't prepared for the amount of medical need ... in the area," he said. "It started with more of the patients that had medical illnesses that were up on the medical and surgical wards. And the minute the hospital opened, we realized we weren't going to have enough beds. And that slowly spilled over to labor and delivery as we saw more [of an] influx of younger couples here in the community."
In the last few years, Bosco said Ascension Seton Hays has nearly doubled its postpartum rooms and labor and delivery rooms.
But even with all this growth, there have been times when the hospital doesn't have enough space for moms.
"It happens quite often," Bosco said. "Sometimes, when a baby has to stay in the hospital longer than the mother would have to, the mother recovered and is ready to go home and the baby has to stay longer. And we have to say, 'Well, we're going to have to discharge you, and you'll have to come back and forth to see your baby rather than stay.'"
On top of that, the hospital has also been dealing with staffing shortages. While the shortages have gotten better, it's still a challenge.
Despite that, the hospital has ranked the highest in Texas for maternal care and delivery.
Bosco said the hospital would love to continue expanding, but it won't happen overnight.
"It's a huge amount of planning," he said. "It's a huge amount of money appropriation outside of the city, and then it's a huge amount of time to make it happen. We have to prove to our Ascension folks in St. Louis that we're seeing enough deliveries to justify the expansion."
In the middle of so much growth, the hospital has also brought down its gestational age limit, so it can deliver babies as small as 32 weeks young.
Being able to help women in high-risk deliveries has been great because often, the hospital has to move patients to Austin so they can get the care they need.