Expectant mothers nearing their due dates are being reassured the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has taken all necessary precautions to ensure their bundle of joy arrives safely, despite the ongoing pandemic.
The hospital said Tuesday it has taken steps to limit potential exposure to or transmission of COVID-19 while also working to keep the child birth experience as “safe, normal and comfortable as possible.”
"We have occasionally seen people questioning whether or not they should have a birth outside of the hospital because they wonder if that might be safer," said Dr. Tracey Crumley, interim chief of obstetrics and gynecology at LHSC. "We just want to encourage people and reassure them that this is still the safest place to come and have your baby."
Precautions and restrictions to protect against COVID-19 include virtual prenatal check-ups in the weeks leading up to birth, only allowing one support partner into the delivery room, and multiple COVID symptom screening measures. Women giving birth by C-section will not be able to have a support partner with them until they are moved from the operating suite to the recovery room. Midwives are allowed to accompany expectant mothers and provide care, while doulas are not currently being permitted.
As an extra precaution, the obstetrics department has run simulations to ensure its current pandemic protocols don't allow anything to fall through the cracks.
To date, there have not been any COVID-19 outbreaks reported on the obstetrics and gynecology wards at the hospital.
"Now that we have been doing this for a couple of months, we can reassure people that while we as a staff may look different, because everyone is gowned and masked with a face shield on, the care that they receive is the same that they would have before," said Crumley. "[Expectant mothers] get their choice of pain control, they get their partner with them, they can have their music, they can do all the things that they thought they might do. We have not changed that process entirely. It is safe, it is comfortable, it is a good place for them to be and we are prepared to provide them that kind of care."
Health-care workers at LHSC deliver roughly 6,000 babies a year, or approximately 500 babies a month. Despite the outbreak of COVID-19, those numbers have remained steady.
"In fact, we have had some months that were even higher as regional hospitals immediately after the March break were down staff because of quarantine restrictions, so we had an increase in [patients] being sent to our hospital to give birth at the start of the pandemic," said Crumley.
The hospital has now posted a serious of videos and other online resources to its website to inform parents-to-be what they can expect, how to prepare for labour and delivery, and what essential items to bring to hospital. The site will be updated as changes to the care process are altered due to COVID-19 in the coming weeks and months.
