Texas Health Resources Harris DOWNTOWN
First and foremost, IF you are using the address 1230 Cooper St. for Texas Health Harris’ parking garage to park and enter through the main entrance to the hospital, please note, Apple Maps will direct you to park in the parking garage for Cook Children’s.
Google Maps and Waze are correct.
That’s not an oops that you want to make in labor. At all.
Ok, now that’s out of the way, I want to again emphasize that this is Texas Health Resources Harris DOWNTOWN Fort Worth and NOT Texas Resources Harris Methodist Southwest. That is an important distinction because they’re two completely different hospitals that have VERY different reviews.
Texas Health Harris would be my personal choice of hospital for labor & delivery. Harris is a doula-friendly hospital. As of March 2024, you can have 2 friends or family members plus a doula for your birth. You doula does not count towards your birth supports as they see them as a member of the care team. That’s always so refreshing to hear and not just as doula, but it truly tells me a lot about their care!
Ok, now for the bullet points:
They have a lot of options for food and drinks. Love that.
The birthing suites all have showers that are fairly small.
They only have 1 birthing tub and you CANNOT birth there; only for use in labor and ONLY if you are seeing a midwife. They are cool with Dad getting in the tub as well, which is great. This room with the birthing tub that may only be used by those under midwifery care — it is the only room with ambient lighting. We know soft/ dim lighting helps moms feel safe to birth, so I thought this was a bummer.
They have birth balls and peanut balls.
The nurses really emphasized how much they love a supportive partner, which is also amazing to hear.
They have 2 birthing rooms with tubs only. First come, first served. These are like standard showers with bathtubs attached like you may have at your house.
Standard postpartum rooms are pretty small.
Upgraded postpartum rooms are offered at $500/night. Dad still gets a couch to sleep on. These rooms are very nice and come with an attached tv room with a door that closes, a small bar area with a stocked mini fridge, a snack basket, and a menu from a personal chef (Dad also gets meals with this room). My feelings on the upgraded room was that it would 100% be worth it if you had a cesarean and a longer stay because the room is much more comfortable. Even with the room upgrade, Dad is still sleeping on a couch. Kind of a bummer.
Overall, this is not a birth center and it shows, but I think it’s a really great birthing option. As a mom that personally experienced some high risk pregnancies that made a stand-alone birth center off-the-table, I would have been very happy birthing at Texas Health Harris Downtown.