On March 11, 2020, I turned 32, I was 39 weeks pregnant, and New York City declared a state of emergency. That same day, my doula called me to tell me that our hospital would not be allowing more than one support person to attend births.
I immediately got anxious and called the head of nursing to get more information, thinking that they could eventually block my husband from attending.
This was my first child, I had no idea what to expect
She told me that she was working to speak to the board of directors to try to get clearance for doulas to attend births as part of a patient’s rights. Fortunately, within one day, the hospital gave doulas provisional clearance to attend births, and I breathed a temporary sigh of relief. Three days later, on Saturday, March 14, I went into labor at 2:30 a.m. and New York’s first and second coronavirus-related deaths were reported.
My water broke at around 7:45 p.m. and we called an Uber to take us from our apartment in Brooklyn to the Upper East Side. Getting admitted into the hospital was easy for my husband and I, but it was even more chaotic to get our doula, Gayle, in — even after being told earlier that she had clearance. The front desk had to make calls to get more details but after about five minutes, she was allowed to go up.
My husband and doula were given surgical masks as soon as we got to the maternity ward, but I was not
Again, the maternity ward didn’t let Gayle into the ward because they needed to get confirmation from someone. Nobody seemed to be on the same page about who was allowed in. At this point, my contractions were coming every two minutes and I was in a lot of pain, so we decided to go into the ward on our own.
Once we were in the ward, we were told that they were at capacity and had a wait list for labor rooms. I was put into a room with three other women hooked up to fetal monitors. I had to labor here until I was moved into a shared recovery area that had a mix of women about to go into their C-sections, moms with new babies, and others laboring.
This environment was extremely stressful
We only had a curtain for privacy and there were easily six other people around us all in various stages of their birth, as well as a very loud nursing station with nurses arguing with each other about who should be allowed up into the ward. Our doula was still not allowed to come in.
After about another 1.5 hours of laboring in the recovery area, we were finally given a labor room. About 20 minutes later, our doula was finally allowed to join us. I was given an epidural around 11 p.m. and a few hours later, it was go time.
After about seven pushes, Charlotte Peppa was born at 2:38 a.m. on March 15, and New York state COVID-19 cases had risen to 729 — nearly 70 new cases since the night before. About an hour after giving birth, our doula left and we were left with our baby under the care of nurses and hospital staff.
Karen Brulhart
We were discharged after just one night
The hospital didn’t want any healthy people to be there any longer than necessary. New York was up to a total of 950 cases and much of the state had started being shut down. In order to be discharged a day earlier than what is normal protocol, we had to make an appointment and promise our care team that we would take Charlotte to her pediatrician within 24 hours of being home in order to be discharged.
Even though I was felt like I’d been hit by a car and could barely get in and out of bed on my own, I was anxious to get home. My mom had flown in from Canada to be with us and being a former NICU nurse, I knew we’d be safe in her expert hands.
Leaving the hospital was slightly strange in hindsight
The lobby of the main entrance was crowded, people were not social-distancing yet, and there were a lot of families who had traveled to attend births. There still seemed to be confusion about who was allowed up into the ward and who was not.
One month later, the death toll in New York has surpassed 10,000. I have made friends with expectant mothers who haven’t been as lucky as I was. They weren’t allowed their doulas, and I heard that other hospitals in the city weren’t allowing any partners to be in attendance anymore. I’m so grateful for the fact that my baby arrived when she did, and that I was allowed to have my husband and doula present. At this time, we‘ve decided to skip my daughter’s second pediatrician visit and I’m debating going to my six-week checkup to avoid exposure.
Karen Brulhart
Even though the situation continues to change every day, I hope that my birth story can help people plan for their own births in the time of coronavirus, or learn a little bit more about what it was like giving birth in a highly impacted state during this time. You may feel scared, anxious, and nervous like I did, but hang in there, mama — it’s going to be OK.
