Monday, September 28 – Sunday, October 4, 2026
Prentice Women's Hospital: 250 E. Superior St., Chicago. Park in the garage at 222 E. Huron St. — bring the ticket inside to be validated at a Customer Service desk on the first or second floor. Currently posted rates: $15 for up to 7 hours, $32 for 7–24 hours (valet runs higher: $27/$30/$37 by duration). Labor is an open-ended stay, so budget for the 24-hour rate and validate.
Northwestern's current visitor rules change periodically — recheck nm.org/visitors the week of delivery rather than trusting anything printed earlier. Same for the exact Labor & Delivery check-in flow.
A recent Northwestern patient-education document describes arriving at the first-floor Customer Service Desk, then Patient Registration on the first floor, then up to the 8th-floor Labor and Delivery Unit. That document was written for a scheduled procedure (it says to arrive an hour early) — spontaneous labor won't follow that script, so treat the desk-to-8th-floor path as the shape of it and confirm the labor-specific route with your OB or a call to Prentice in November.
Prentice provides the basics for delivery and recovery (gowns, pads, basic toiletries, diapers and wipes for the baby's stay). Your bag covers comfort, documents, and the going-home outfit — it gets packed the week of Nov 16, but buy the pieces now so nothing is a December scramble:
Illinois birth certificates are completed at the hospital, usually within a day or two of delivery, via a worksheet the staff hands you. The fields that trip people up: the child's full legal name (first, middle, last — exactly as it will appear on the Social Security record), and both parents' identifying information. There is no "decide later" — what goes on the worksheet becomes the legal name, and correcting it afterward means an amendment process.
Because you and Blair don't share a surname, the baby's last name is a genuine decision, not a default. Decide it this week (Oct 4 deadline above), write it down in the documents folder, and make sure Blair's MyNM record and your own notes agree. The SSN application flows from the birth certificate, and the 529 account, insurance enrollment, and pediatrician records all inherit whatever name you choose — getting it right once saves five corrections later.