MINOT (AP) - Minot's Trinity Hospital is running out of room.

"We are looking at all the options that we have to expand. We know that the community needs an expanded OB and neonatal service," said Deb McAvoy, a nurse manager on Trinity's obstetrics unit.

The hospital has seen record numbers on its obstetrics floor.

Trinity reported a record 144 baby deliveries in June.

More patients also are coming for cancer care and to other parts of the hospital. The hospital says it is looking for land for the future.

"The focus was to look for land because of how fast Minot is growing. They want to make sure something is secured, so that when we look down the line at building a new hospital, we would be ready to go," Amy Moen, director of the Trinity Health Foundation.

"We have a new squadron coming to the Minot Air Force Base by the end of next year, and with oil development, because we're the largest metropolitan area (near the state's oil field) for the oil workers, we've seen an influx that way, too."

McAvoy said the obstetrics unit is seeing at least 120 delivers a month. "We were set up for numbers in the 80s," she said.

Officials also say smaller hospitals no longer deliver babies unless it involves an emergency, so Trinity is seeing more new mothers that might have gone to other towns.

"We make adjustments. We have the staff available to take care of everyone," McAvoy said. "I've been here a year now and these nurses are so giving and wonderful. They come in at a drop of a hat and stay later. They give up lots of family time to be here."

The nursery is almost always packed. So is the neonatal intensive care unit.

"Our NICU admissions from last year to this year are up 36 percent. Beds are tight in there sometimes and we can have up to 14 to 16 babies in there," McAvoy said.

"We try to keep the patients' disturbance at a minimum," she said. "It can be stressful for the staff, but everyone bounces back. And sometimes, you just have to come back to my office, yell a bit, then go back out and you are fine."