St. Lukes playing lullabies after births

CEDAR RAPIDS - St. Luke's Hospital has a new way of marking the birth of a baby within its walls - playing Brahms' Lullaby.

Kathie Manderscheid, manager of the Birthcare Center at St. Luke's, said the idea came from elsewhere in the state.

'It's always been a big hit and brings a smile to everyone's face when they hear it, so we thought, ‘why not St. Luke's?' and decided to go for it,” Manderscheid said.

Iowa Methodist Medical Center implemented its 'lullaby button” in January, and so far, the program has found success beyond the maternity department, according to Debbie Tell, nurse manager for Methodist Maternity Services.

'Hospitals aren't always happy places,” Tell said. 'The nursing staff found that when they heard the lullaby button go off it gave this sense of happiness.”

St. Luke's started playing the lullaby June 18. Normally, St. Luke's averages about eight births per day.

But 'July has been crazy busy,” Manderscheid said, with a recent average of up to 20 births a day.

Lisa Hackenmiller, who gave birth to her first child Thursday morning at St. Luke's, said hearing the lullaby made an impression on her.

'Every time we heard it before we had our baby we kept thinking, ‘wow that's going to be us,' and then every time we've heard it since we think about what those parents are feeling and how excited they are like we were,” Hackenmiller said Friday.

l Comments: gabriella.dunn@sourcemedia.net