Healthy Life

There is always anticipation and stress when bringing a new bundle of joy into the world.

With everything happening in the world around us right now, it has become even more stressful for expecting parents.

As many of our patients are pregnant women, we are keeping up to date with information as it comes available about Pregnancy, Delivery, Mother & Infant health in regard to COVID-19. Evidence Based Birth® is a great resource for expecting parents anytime. They have been diligently updating their website to keep providers and expecting parents up to date with research and recommendations as it pertains to COVID-19.

The information they provide is free to anyone. Recently, they have released a webinar and podcast on the topic. We encourage any expecting parents to explore this information and be in communication with their birth provider as they approach their due date and prepare a birth plan. Much of this information and research can be overwhelming, which is why we are going to give you the current ‘synopsis’ of what we know about COVID-19 and pregnancy.

Please remember that new information is coming to the surface daily- and some things that have been reported- can change. We recommend checking the website weekly for their updates. If any substantial information or research is provided – we will make sure all of our patients are notified.
Here is a direct link to their COVID-19 section: https://evidencebasedbirth.com/covid19/

Here is what we know so far:

• There is currently no evidence to show that pregnant women are at greater risk for infection or severe illness with COVID-19
• Any extra precautions that are currently been taken are because of the unknown and/or fear—because this is so new, there is simply not enough research to draw clear conclusions
• There is currently no evidence of parent-to-baby transmission during pregnancy that has been published- Amniotic fluid, cord blood, and human milk samples that have been tested- have tested negative for COVID-19 infection
• Half of people infected will start showing symptoms at 5 days, 98% will show symptoms within 12 days.
• The median length of viral shedding was 20 days, with the longest observed duration at 37 days
• The illness ranges from mild (even no symptoms) to severe (est. 16% of all cases)
• For pregnant women, they recommend the same actions as any person to avoid exposure (hand washing, social distancing etc)