STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- They dreamt of the moment their babies were born; family members coming to visit, the “oohs” and “ahs” at the tiny new additions and endless baby snuggles.
There is often a massive amount of preparing before childbirth, but one thing that women on Staten Island -- and across the city, state, and nation -- didn’t plan for as part of welcoming a baby was the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The coronavirus crisis immediately changed childbirth, upending birth plans as doctors and hospitals now had strict guidelines they needed to follow to ensure the safety of mom and baby.
Some women told the Advance/SILive.com they felt they were treated as criminals during their stay in the hospital before their COVID-19 status was known. Others said they felt robbed of a birth experience.
Many women said they were treated with respect and dignity during a highly stressful time for both patients and healthcare providers.
All women agreed they never imagined this happening.
FIRST-TIME MOM SAID THIS WASN’T HOW SHE PLANNED HER FIRST PREGNANCY
Loryn Sullivan is expecting her first child, a baby girl, on May 12. The little girl will also be the family’s first grandchild.
Sullivan, 30, said the experience of being pregnant during a pandemic has been scary and not at all how she imagined her first pregnancy would be.
“It’s been very scary, I’m very nervous right now,” the Grant City resident told the Advance/SILive.com.
One thing that has eased her anxiety is Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s most recent Executive Order stating that support persons -- in Sullivan’s case her husband James -- are allowed to stay in the hospital for the duration of the inpatient stay.
Previously, some private hospitals, including on Staten Island, barred partners and other support persons for laboring moms.
Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) suspended visitation in labor and delivery to “mothers only” in early March before relaxing the policy and allowing one person; Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) always allowed one support person.
“I didn’t want to think about not having my husband there at all and also not having his help for the postpartum period,” she said.
Soon-to-be-mother Jodi also said surviving a pandemic wasn’t how she imagined her first pregnancy going.
Jodi wasn’t able to have her maternity photos taken and missed out on her last scheduled 4-D sonogram.
“I was really looking forward to that sonogram,” Jodi said, “but I have other sonograms."
She said she’s trying to stay away from news as much as possible before she goes into labor; her due date is May 19.
“I’ve already made myself so nervous, I don’t want to make it worse. I’m just listening to what my doctor is telling me and hoping for the best.”
MAINTAINING PATIENT COMFORT DURING LABOR AND A PANDEMIC
Victoria Orleman, assistant vice president for women and children’s services at RUMC, said the hospital was bombarded with emails, phone calls, and social media messages from frightened women.
“This was most challenging because this was something new for all of us, because we had to manage the care of our patients with all of the unknowns and make sure that we maintain control and give patients comfort,” Orleman said.
“The expectations of birth were forced to change,” she said. “I hope that our staff were all able to provide the support and that they left here fulfilled.”
Dr. Michael Cabbad, chair of RUMC’s department of obstetrics and director of maternal fetal medicine, said giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic has taken an experience from mothers that can’t be recovered.
“There’s sometimes up to 12 family members here [to see the baby] and it’s a loss not being able to share those moments,” Cabbad said.
Several women the Advance/SILive.com spoke with said that mother and baby were separated shortly after birth, and in some cases, mothers weren’t reunited with their newborns until discharge.
RUMC said mother and baby are only separated for clinical reasons.
“We’ve never separated mom and baby unless there was a clinical discussion with mom,” Orelaman said.
Cabbad said that mothers were always given the choice whether or not they wanted to have their baby room-in and it was never a forced decision.
“It didn’t happen here,” Cabbad said.
A RUMC spokesman said RUMC is the borough’s only hospital to receive the “baby friendly” designation from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.
‘I DIDN’T GET THE CARE I WOULD USUALLY GET’
Things began to shut down because of COVID-19 as Libby Elias hit the 37-week mark in her pregnancy. At the time she asked her doctor about the coronavirus and didn’t get much information.
“It wasn’t much of a conversation at that point. I wasn’t that worried yet; it was so new that we didn’t know what to expect,” Elias said.
Immediately after that appointment her husband, Michael, came down with COVID-19 symptoms. One week later she had symptoms. That’s when panic set in.
Elias, a Travis resident, tested positive but Michael was never able to get tested. Everything after that went downhill. She started having contractions on March 30, one day before her due date. Her plan for a natural birth went out the window.
After her daughter, Ruby, was born via C-section, Libby said she didn’t see her daughter again until she was discharged.
Other women who spoke to the Advance/SILive.com on the condition of anonymity also said they were separated from their babies.
“On one hand [the hospital] didn’t want to get other patients sick but I’m still a patient. It really made me feel like I did something wrong and I didn’t get the care I would usually get,” she said.
One little ray of sunshine, she said, was her and Ruby were discharged one day early.
“Women, we’re pretty badass,” she said.
‘WE CAN’T DO THINGS THE WAY WE WERE DOING IT BEFORE THE PANDEMIC'
Dr. Adi Davidov, associate chair of the department of obstetrics at SIUH, said the hospital faced tremendous challenges but ultimately found ways to provide the best possible care, making its labor and delivery and maternity units as safe as they could be.
One of the biggest challenges was that the data wasn’t – and still isn’t – 100% clear on how COVID-19 impacts maternity patients.
“I think that everybody understood that we couldn’t do things the way that we were doing it before the pandemic,” Davidov said.
The guiding principal, he said, is determining what is best for patients, babies, and the staff.
SIUH did have a handful of women who were pregnant and positive for COVID-19, however, Davidov said the hospital didn’t have any bad outcomes.
Davidov said SIUH is following all of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive orders, including the most recent, which permits a support person and a certified doula in labor and delivery, as well as a support person staying for the remainder of the mother’s stay on the maternity floor.
“It sometimes takes us a couple of days to operationalize [the executive orders]. Our challenge is that we have double bedded rooms,” he said, adding the hospital cannot allow people to be in and out of rooms without knowing their COVID-19 status.
EVERYBODY DID THE BEST THEY COULD
Maria said looking back, the worst part of her experience was before she got to the hospital to deliver her son via planned C-section.
“I just, I worked myself up so much. There was so much information but also so much unknown. I really freaked myself out,” said Maria, who asked that only her first name be used.
After what she described as an “uncomfortable” COVID-19 test -- a nasal swab inserted up into the nasal cavity -- she was admitted and reunited with her husband. Within a few hours she was wheeled into the operating room and after receiving a spinal anesthesia injection, her husband was brought into the room and sat at her head.
He was pre-screened for COVID-19 before entering the hospital.
After their son was born, Maria’s husband had to leave at 10 p.m. Both hospitals asked support persons to leave at 10 p.m. prior to Cuomo’s newest executive order permitting them to stay overnight.
“Sometimes it took a while for a nurse to come into the room if I needed something,” Maria said. “They had to put on new gowns, masks, and stuff so it took a bit.”
Still, she said she was treated with respect.
“The staff, they did the best they could with everything going on. I appreciate them for being so kind to me,” she said.