St. David's HealthCare announced Sept. 13 that it will undergo a $36 million expansion at its Women's Center of Texas.

The expansion will increase the 121,000-square-foot facility by 10,000 square feet and add 20 beds to its neonatal intensive care unit and 18 beds to the antepartum unit. The women's center is located inside of St. David's North Austin Medical Center.

St. David's expects to complete the expansion in September 2014, said Allen Harrison, CEO of St. David's NAMC.

"Any time you get a chance to grow and expand the services that [we] have already been offering, it is nice validation that [we're] doing well, that the community has a lot of confidence in [us] and that we've had success at our core mission to take care of moms and babies," Harrison said.

Sheri Dube, chief operating officer of St. David's NAMC, said part of the reason for the expansion is because of the high volume of births at the women's center, which is one of Central Texas' largest women's services providers, according to St. David's. In 2012, the center saw nearly 6,000 births, and St. David's expects that number to increase in 2013.

Harrison said he does not yet know how many employees will be hired to accommodate the expansion.

"With this exciting news comes more good news—we're hiring," he said. "The expansion will necessitate an increase in nursing staff within labor and delivery, antepartum and our NICU units, as well as expected support staff in all of our women's services areas."

Harrison said patient services will not be interrupted or affected during the renovations. Services offered at the women's center include mammograms, prenatal care, checkups and labor and delivery, he said.

St. David's NAMC completed the $83 million women's center tower in 2009. The center includes 36 NICU beds, 29 labor and delivery beds, 10 antepartum rooms, 51 postpartum rooms and six cesarian section surgical suites.

The women's center has a midwifery program, four maternal-fetal medicine physicians and lactation consultants. In 2012 and 2013, St. David's was recognized by Truven Health Analytics, formerly Thomson Reuters, as one of the nation's top 100 hospitals.

Harrison said the community has responded favorably to St. David's.

"We opened this facility four years ago and provided a state-of-the-art, beautiful facility with wonderful amenities, but also with the very best in patient quality care," he said. "We've seen dramatic growth, and we're trying to catch up with that growth."