CAMP LESTER, Okinawa — U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa unveiled its renovated and expanded labor and delivery rooms at Camp Lester on Friday.

The $1.1 million face-lift provides a safer and more private environment for patients, said Cmdr. Elizabeth Tipton, department head of obstetrics and gynecology and maternal fetal medicine.

The improvements are a big deal for a hospital that averages 100 births a month, said Cmdr. John Tramont, director of surgical services. Complicated pregnancies throughout the Pacific are also referred to the hospital, which has the only neonatal intensive care unit in the region.

With renovations, the area is now 7,250 square feet and includes five labor and delivery rooms, two operating rooms, four triage rooms that can double as delivery rooms and a family waiting area.

Labor and delivery rooms include chairs that fold out into small beds for family members staying with patients, flat-screen TVs and other amenities that make for a better birthing experience, Tramont said.

Previously, the area was 4,800 square feet and consisted of four labor and delivery rooms, one operating room and a triage area curtained off into three spaces.

Before the renovations, women in triage were separated only by a curtain. To get to triage, patients had to walk past labor and delivery areas. And there wasn’t a lot of space for family to wait with the patient, Tramont said.

The additional space was made possible by connecting the old space to an unused area through a former elevator shaft and extending an outside wall by seven feet, said Lt. Stephen Johndreau, the engineer in charge of the project.

"It’s about as good as we can get it in this old hospital," Tramont said. The building is more than 50 years old.

Since renovations were completed at the beginning of the month, 82 babies have been born, and patients seem to approve.

"I like it," said Michelle Diley, who gave birth Friday to her third child. "It feels more comfortable."