*Disclaimer: This is an account of my personal experience. Every day there are new guidelines, and standards as this situation continues to change. Please refer to your state/hospital guidelines for up-to-date information.**
On May 15th, 2020, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and other than the masks entering and leaving our hospital room, you would have never guessed that we brought another life into the world during a pandemic. Given the amount of questions I’ve received after announcing the arrival of our sweet Hallie Rae, I thought it would be a great idea to write a post addressing the questions I have received! So here we go!
Did you have to labor in a mask? Were you tested for Covid?
Short answer: NO, I didn’t and yes, I was tested. I gave birth at one of the Houston Methodist hospitals and because I was scheduled to be induced, I was able to take a covid test beforehand so that I would not have to labor in a mask and so staff could save their PPE for positive/presumptive positive cases.
Did you have to wear a mask at all during your stay or was it just the staff?
Yes we wore masks while we were waiting to get things started (like getting the IV hooked up, starting pitocin, etc.). Brandon and I wore masks because there were multiple staff popping in and out of the room and we only wore them when someone else was in the room. When things/contractions started to pick up, only Brandon wore a mask. Also, anytime Brandon left the room for coffee/water he wore a mask. All staff members wore masks 100% of the time!
What were the key differences between your first birth and this one?
Masks and visitor policy changes were the only differences between my first birth and this one (I gave birth both times at the same hospital so it’s a pretty easy comparison). With Nolan, we obviously didn’t wear masks at any point and our families were allowed to come visit. This birth, we wore masks at different points and only one support person was allowed for the whole stay and you could not change who the support person was once they entered the hospital. Brandon was able to leave the hospital within certain hours if he wanted to, but it was easier to just stay at the hospital with me the whole time (we just ate the hospital food the entire stay). We also stayed the same amount of time in the hospital as we did with our previous birth (48 hours).
What aspect of the birth were you most nervous about?
I think for me, I was most nervous about the possibility of being exposed to the virus over the course of our stay in the hospital. I think what calmed my fears the most about this was how cautious the staff was with sanitizing, cleaning and always wearing masks (not once did we encounter a staff member without a mask on).
What did you pack for this hospital stay? What did you leave at home?
The key question I asked myself when packing for the hospital this go around was, “Will this item be easy to sanitize when I get home?” For example I wanted to use a bag that I could easily wipe down like a plastic suitcase or duffle bag. And this meant that I wouldn’t bring things like a nursing pillow or slippers. Also, because I knew we couldn’t have a photographer present, for our situation there was no reason to look super put together so I left a lot of my makeup/super cute swaddles and clothes at home #2ndbabyprobs. Be sure to checkout this blog post for a list of things I packed! *sidenote* I seriously packed a FOURTH of what I packed when I had Nolan. You really learn what you actually need the second time around!
In Closing,
To all my gals who are due in 2020, know that your fears and concerns about birthing during COVID are totally valid, I was honestly so nervous going into this. But please also know that everything will be okay and that you will still get to have a beautiful birthing experience regardless of the circumstances. I love you all and hope that you found this post informative and helpful!
See y’all next time 🙂
Pharryn