Having your baby during COVID 19 - Dr Mark Rosengarten

Having your baby during COVID-19

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Covid-19 Pandemic 2021

Being pregnant and having a baby during the Covid Pandemic can be stressful.

Fortunately a pregnant woman is not at higher risk of getting Covid but may have more severe complications related to Covid infection in pregnancy. There is also no vertical transmission of the virus from mother to baby through the placenta.

How can I protect myself against COVID-19 when pregnant?

The basic protection against COVID-19 is the same for everyone, but it is even more important if you are pregnant.

Please read carefully

If you are pregnant and have symptoms listed in the questionnaire on the right suggestive of a Covid infection, please go and get tested and then stay at home until you have the results. Please inform me of these results as soon as you get them.

You can take Tylenol for fever and pain. Do not take Advil/Motrin/Aleve or any other Non Steroidal Anti inflammatory drug (NSAID) while pregnant.

If you are feeling extremely ill and or having trouble breathing please call the 811 hotline or (604) 875-2154 for advice on where to go to get help.

IN THE HOSPITAL

The same rules apply during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum.

Socially distance, wash hands and wear a mask.
In the hospital, moms, partners and babies stay together.
Partners can leave and come back to the hospital but they cannot swap out with another person.
Patients do not need to wear a facemask in labor.
Mom and their partners should wear facemasks when walking in the hospital common areas.
Moms are encouraged to breastfeed. If a mom has Covid she can still breastfeed but she should wear a facemask while doing so.
The hospital is fully operational and there are enough nurses, doctors, support staff and PPE’s to go around.
Parking in the hospital grounds is free.
All patients will get a private room irrespective of whether they have private insurance or not.
You will be asked a series of questions on admission to determine your risk status for having Covid. If deemed necessary you may be swabbed for Covid.
NO VISITORS are allowed in the hospital. That includes siblings and grandparents.

We encourage as short a hospital stay as possible.

Doctors are not allowed to visit their patients if they are not working on call.
A member of the call group will deliver your baby and then notify me of the delivery.
If I am not allowed to come to the hospital, I will call you to see how you and baby are doing.
A member of my call group will see you during your postpartum stay and discharge you when you and baby are ready to go.

AT HOME

Try and limit visitors.
Social distancing is encouraged even at home.
All visitors should wear a facemask and wash hands on entering the home. It is acceptable to ask visitors who feel unwell or who may have been in contact with a person suspected or confirmed of having Covid or who has traveled outside of Canada in the past 14 days not to visit your home.
The flu vaccination and whooping cough booster (TDAP) is recommended.

Covid19 Pregnancy Resources

On entering the hospital

When you enter the hospital you will be asked to fill out a similar questionnaire and/or you’ll be asked these questions.

COVID19 Questionnaire: Part A

Please do not come to the office or hospital if you answer YES to any of the questions below. Please go and get a COVID swab and please inform us of the result.

Have you returned from travel outside of Canada within the past 14 days?

Been in close contact with anyone diagnosed with lab confirmed COVID19 positive?

Lived or worked in a setting that is part of a COVID19 outbreak in the past 14 days?

Been advised to self-isolate or quarantine at home by public health?

Been in close contact with a household member who is sick?

COVID19 Questionnaire: Part B

Do you have new onset of COVID-19 like symptoms?

: Asian pregnant woman with mask look at mobile phone and sit on sofa in living room of her house with soft light.

: Young mother breastfeeds her baby, holding him in her arms and smiling from happiness

: Pregnant woman standing by the big window with face medical mask on. Worries about child birth during pandemic.

: Attentive young man in a medical mask holding a smartphone and hugging his pregnant wife