Expecting nurse speaks out about experience during COVID-19 pandemic, mothers weigh in about pregnancy and raising newborns during crisis
Madison Tromler
Expecting women and mothers face obstacles as it is, but now people are dealing with pregnancy and motherhood during the COVID-19 global pandemic—a time of uncertainty.
One expecting nurse of Lakewood is due April 30 and chose to stay anonymous.
“It’s been hard because everything I have ever envisioned my first childbirth being is completely different than what is happening,” she said.
She works in the nursing education unit rather than the emergency room floor where she was previously placed.
“I miss the rush, chaos, and gratification of the job,” she said. “Now, I am happy that I am shielded from the most sick, but I also feel intensely guilty for not being on the front lines of the response like I could be.”
After being told someone on her floor contracted COVID-19, her team had her leave the building and work from home. She said after the baby is born, she may choose or be ordered to come back to the front line.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, current research doesn’t indicate whether pregnant women have a greater chance of contracting COVID-19, or if they’re more likely to have a serious illness as a result. The CDC said “Based on available information, pregnant people seem to have the same risk as adults who are not pregnant.”
“I feel guilty for being so shielded in my role now because I have quite a few friends who are expecting that are still working face-to-face with all patients every day in emergency or intensive care nursing,” she said. “I wish I could help more and at the same time, I wish I could drag them away from the danger.”
Her husband is a human services worker and may need to help during the crisis as well.
“We have a plan to leave our baby with either family or a friend for a few weeks to a month if we both need to be on the front lines of COVID-19 after he is born,” she said.
Her doctor’s appointments are anything but ordinary at this point, as she continues her weekly appointments virtually. She’s also been asked to monitor her own baby’s heartbeat.
“They had blood pressure cuffs and dopplers to give out so you could find your own baby’s heartbeat for the visits,” she said. “Luckily, since I know how to use both, I had already bought both for myself, so they could use the equipment to let someone else stay at home too.”
She said she decided to have an elective c-section in preparation of the hospital’s coronavirus estimations.
“The longer we wait until our due date of April 30, the closer we will get to the highest number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital,” she said. “We also know that when they run out of rooms, they will start putting people in nontraditional spaces; like halls, conference rooms and lobbies.”
She doesn’t know if overcrowded hospital rooms will affect people who are delivering babies, but she wanted some kind of control in getting into the hospital early at 39 weeks.
“I had a few meltdowns when I thought that maybe they wouldn’t let my husband into the hospital during the delivery because of the visitor restrictions,” she said. “We both cried about that for a while.”
Fortunately, it turns out she will be allowed one visitor in the delivery room, so her husband will be there.
The CDC said if an expecting mother is suspected to have contracted COVID-19, the hospital should then limit visitors unless they are essential to the person’s well-being.
“If I get COVID, I would be separated from the baby at birth. If my husband gets it, he’ll miss the delivery of his first child,” she said.
Being separated from family is the norm these past few weeks for most Americans. It’s no different for her.
“We know the stakes are high. Some of our family has been kind of rude about us keeping our distance, so it has led to some arguments and hard feelings. We are sticking to our plan though.”
Although she’s taking precautions, she’s scared of what’s to come.
“We stress out when we have to go out for food, or when we’re on a walk and people don’t keep their distance,” she said. “We wish people knew how much is at stake for us if we get sick right now.”
After asking what it’s like to be surrounded by the front line workers of this pandemic, she said “I think the craziest thing I’m seeing so far is just the sheer scale of preparations that our organizations are making to get ready for the spike in patients.”
She said the hospital is preparing thousands of workers to transition to different roles to help and keep people alive during the pandemic.
“It’s amazing, inspiring, and terrifying. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m pregnant and hormonal, but it definitely brings me to tears sometimes,” she said. “This is going to probably be the most heart wrenching and raw time of so many people’s lives.”
Candice Caya is from North Canton and now resides in Orlando, Florida. She gave birth to twins on Feb. 5.
“Some days are better than others,” Caya said.
Having two newborns, she was already used to being at home taking care of them, but now she’s going almost 10 weeks of being cooped up with her babies.
“We’ve lost a lot of the help we were counting on having,” she said.
Because of social distancing, she can’t get help from family to take care of her babies and although her husband is working from home, he still has to go into the office sometimes. She also has a two-and-a-half year old to take care of, which doesn’t make things any easier.
“Losing the help of family and friends has been the biggest struggle because that’s something that we were really counting on, especially with the twins,” she said. “That’s really put a stress on me.”
She’s now taking care of three children under the age of three.
“It’s up to me to keep everybody calm and contained, so it’s definitely a challenge I was not entirely anticipating.”
Compared to her first pregnancy, postpartum is a lot more of a challenge.
“The biggest thing that helped me especially with dealing with postpartum was just getting out of the house and doing normal everyday activities,” she said.
What used to be a quick errand or run to the grocery store, is now taken from her.
“Anytime I could get out of the house and just do something normal helped me feel better,” she said.
She also used to attend meetings at the hospital to socialize with new moms to help the postpartum experience.
“It’s really affected the postpartum,” she said. “Just not having that sense of normalcy or getting back to normalcy.”
Her newborn twins are also due for vaccines and a check-up soon.
“I’m not sure how that’s going to work because I’ve always had to have people come with me to help and now I don’t know that I want to expose more people to going to a doctor, but also taking them to a doctor’s office,” she said.
“It’s just nerve wracking; You just don’t know what you’re going to encounter.”
On top of everything she’s facing, she’s also dealt with a shortage of baby supplies at the grocery store.
“Each time I go through a package [baby wipes], I get a little more anxious because it’s like; I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get them when I need them.”
After asking how she copes with all of this, she said “It’s literally one day, one hour at a time. You don’t know what’s going to happen. You can’t panic about what’s ahead until you get to that point.”
She said she’s nervous for what’s ahead, more so for her extended family and friends who work in the medical field facing the front lines.
Kelly Meyer of Medina is a television news producer. She works the night shift and is expecting her second baby on Sept. 13.
Meyer said her main concern originally was, “If I get this virus, I’m not going to be able to handle this the way a healthy 37-year-old woman would be able to do it.”
However, as she continued to talk with her doctor, her nerves settled.
“My doctor’s not one to get flustered easily, and I have a good relationship with him,” she said. “I trust him, and I think it’s really important to surround yourself with people you trust.”
She said her doctor highly recommended she works from home, and fortunately she was given that opportunity amidst the pandemic.
“The unknown; I think that’s really the biggest trend now,” she said. “It’s just a time of uncertainty. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
She said she finds comfort knowing she has until September to give birth.
“I’d be freaking out if I was due next week. For the women who are 40-30 weeks pregnant, I think that’s even scarier,” she said.
She said she saw her doctor last Monday for her 16th week appointment.
“He said, ‘Look this isn’t going to go away. We’re going to possibly see this next year. It’s going to be a new normal we will have to adapt to,’” she said.
As far as her appointments go, the doctor’s office is focused on getting patients in and out as quickly as possible.
“They do not want you lingering,” she said. “They have no one in the lobby, and I call when I get into the parking lot.”
In her experience, the doctor’s do not recommend anyone accompany the patient during appointments, but will allow a visitor at this point if it’s an important moment; such as hearing the baby’s heartbeat for the first time.
She said she’s focused on following the CDC guidelines to stay as healthy as possible looking towards September.
“Just taking it day by day and as long as you have a doctor and you’re working with people you trust, they’ll help keep you stay sane,” she said.
COVID-19 Pregnancy Q&A
Source: CDC, as of April 4, 2020
Q: Being pregnant, am I more high risk for COVID-19?
CDC: “We do not currently know if pregnant people have a greater chance of getting sick from COVID-19 than the general public nor whether they are more likely to have serious illness as a result. Based on available information, pregnant people seem to have the same risk as adults who are not pregnant. However, we do know that
-Pregnant people have changes in their bodies that may increase their risk of some infections.
-Pregnant people have had a higher risk of severe illness when infected with viruses from the same family as COVID-19 and other viral respiratory infections, such as influenza.”
Q: If I get COVID-19, will my baby get it?
CDC: “Mother-to-child transmission of coronavirus during pregnancy is unlikely, but after birth a newborn is susceptible to person-to-person spread. A very small number of babies have tested positive for the virus shortly after birth. However, it is unknown if these babies got the virus before or after birth.”
Q: Could the virus transfer into breastmilk?
CDC: “In limited studies, COVID-19 has not been detected in breast milk; however we do not know for sure whether mothers with COVID-19 can spread the virus via breast milk.”
Q: What precautions should I take?
CDC: “-Avoid people who are sick or who have been exposed to the virus.
-Clean your hands often using soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
-Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT THESE LINKS:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/pregnancy-breastfeeding.html
Contact reporter Madison Tromler at mtromler@kent.edu.