First Baby Born at Advocate Christ's New Birthing Center

Photo: Crystal Baker holds her new son, Leonardo, the first child born at Advocate Christ’s new state-of-the-art birthing center that opened Sunday. | Advocate Christ Medical Center

The paint was barely dry on Advocate Christ Medical Center’s state-of-the-art Women and Infants Birthing Center before the first baby was born early Monday morning.

Baby Leonardo made his entrance into the world at 12:38 a.m., just hours after Christ Medical Center threw open the doors to its new eight-story in-patient tower on Sunday.

The East Tower, which broke ground in 2013, anchors the medical center on the southeast campus. Special guests got a preview of the in-patient tower during a special reception last week.

The overall project encompasses 357,000 square feet and complements the Outpatient Pavilion which opened in 2014. The East Tower’s design team is pursuing LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), an international rating for sustainable construction and building operation.

From a sustainability perspective, the building uses 30 percent less water as well as 15 percent less energy. The tower is also designed to expand four floors vertically without disruption of operations, important to the medical center’s plan for campus growth.

The new birthing center offers private labor and delivery suites, high-risk rooms, C-section suites designed for multiple births, and post-delivery suites.

The East Tower also features a new cafeteria, chapel, lactation/retail center, a medical intensive care unit and a cardiovascular thoracic intensive care unit. All patient care rooms feature Cerner Smart Room Technology to better engage patients and families in the care process.

Leonardo’s proud mother is Crystal Baker.