St. David's Women's Center of Texas has opened four new sleep rooms in its Ronald McDonald Family Room to better serve families with children being treated in the center's neonatal and pediatric intensive care units. Assistant Chief Nursing Officer Yvette McDonald said the new rooms, which include furnishings and queen-size beds, allow families to get rest without having to leave the facility while their children receive care. "Our primary focus is always keeping our moms and dads as close to their babies as possible," McDonald said. The women's center is located at St. David's North Austin Medical Center, which is part of St. David's HealthCare. The center's neonatal intensive care unit treats newborn babies with life-threatening conditions, and the pediatric intensive care unit provides care for children from infancy up to 17 years of age. McDonald said that before opening the sleep rooms, the Ronald McDonald Family Room offered amenities such as a kitchenette, a television and internet access but had no place for families to sleep or spend the night. Families can now stay at the center for several days at a time, depending on the condition of their children undergoing treatment. McDonald said keeping families close to their children can reduce the stress of having complications during pregnancy. The women's center projects it will handle about 7,000 births in 2016, a number that has increased annually over the past several years, McDonald said. Of those 7,000 births, the center expects about 600 infants will be admitted to its neonatal intensive care unit this year. McDonald said the center has managed to keep its rate of admissions to the intensive care unit below national averages, in part due to doctors encouraging expectant mothers to continue their pregnancies for as long as possible before giving birth. She said the increase in births at the center can be attributed to Austin's population growth, particularly in the city's north side. McDonald said the center has room for further expansion, and plans are in the works to open additional sleep rooms. "We've grown tremendously," she said. "This will be a record-breaking year again for us."