If problems or concerns arise during pregnancy, you may be referred to the Mercy Women & Infant’s Center Maternity Triage and Treatment (MTT) Unit for evaluation, lab tests, fetal monitoring and/or ultrasound.

Mercy’s MTT staff is specially trained and devoted to caring for women with high-risk and complicated pregnancies. The inpatient area, which features the same amenities as Mercy’s Mother/Baby Unit, is available for those who require additional care. The unit also has an ultrasound room that provides obstetric ultrasounds 24 hours a day for inpatients and Mercy Emergency Room patients. These ultrasounds are performed by PCI sonographers and are read by PCI physicians.

Mercy Medical Center—Des Moines has the only birthing unit with a certified critical care obstetrical team in the state of Iowa. PCI physicians, along with a core group of nurses who have received additional training and education in critical care obstetrics, comprise the Mercy Obstetric Critical Care Unit. Critically ill patients who would otherwise be transferred to an intensive care unit somewhere else in the hospital can remain with the nurses and physicians who know them best and can stay close to their baby once they deliver.

In addition to the Maternity Triage and Treatment Unit, the Mercy Women & Infants’ Center consists of the Variety Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the Birthing Unit and the Mother/Baby Unit with the well-baby nursery. It is designed to provide state-of-the-art technology to mothers, babies and families throughout the birthing and post-partum experience.

The Mercy Women & Infants’ Center is housed on three floors of Mercy’s East Tower, which is located in downtown Des Moines on Third Street between University Avenue and Laurel Street.