How midwives look after pregnant women in corona times

Corona shakes up the everyday life of many people. It is no different with midwives. If you are otherwise close to women and babies, distance is now also the order of the day. This makes some situations unreal - and brings Martians to the delivery room.

Hamburg (dpa) - Midwife Wibke Klug has helped hundreds of babies in Hamburg to the world. She has never seen a situation like this in the past 20 years.

Fathers have to look after siblings and are therefore unable to take them into the delivery room, women leave the clinic for fear of the coronavirus immediately after the birth and home visits are partly processed via video calls.

"Everyone is very worried and unsettled," says the 43-year-old. The Hamburg woman is a midwife. This means that she accompanies women through their pregnancy, the birth of the child and the first weeks of the baby. In times of Corona, educating and calming down once again became their most important tasks.

The midwife has around 20 to 25 appointments a week and currently accompanies around ten families. "It is also a luxury. The families are very careful, they really respect the ban on contact. My colleagues in the clinics experience it very differently." At the same time, however, this increases the already great responsibility. "The women often didn't see anyone else for days or weeks. No friends, no family. I'm the biggest risk for my women." The Hamburg woman has a nine-year-old daughter and a chronically ill man. It is therefore very important for them personally not to bring the virus home with them.

Midwife work via video call

Wibke Klug has therefore also decided to use some of her appointments via video calls. "It is really great that this is now also legally permitted and can be settled." However, this is only an option for women, where everything runs smoothly and the baby is already a few weeks old. "I do this about one to four times a week." Otherwise, the 43-year-old goes to the women's apartment as usual.

Actually even more than usual, because many pregnant women no longer dare to go into the waiting room of the gynecologist in corona times. She will then take care of the check-ups. During that time she also has to clear up a lot. "The biggest issue of uncertainty is childbirth with or without a man." Because grandma, grandpa, friends and neighbors do not take care of siblings because of the corona rules, the fathers now stay at home more often at birth. The demand for Caesarean sections has therefore already increased, said Wibke Klug.

Special precautions

And even after the birth there is more to do than usual. As a precaution, many women leave the clinic immediately after the birth. The midwives are now faced with the numerous medical checks that are usually carried out directly in the hospitals during the first three days.

During home visits, the midwife now also disinfects her hands before and after. Otherwise, she only does this before the examinations of the woman and child. At birth she now wears a face mask. To the best of her knowledge, she has not yet looked after a woman infected with the novel corona virus. "The women who are having their children now have not traveled. They have been at home nicely for the past four weeks and caressed their little tummies." The 43-year-old assumes that the births of corona infected people will now increase. "They'll come in the next two to four weeks."

Not an easy situation

Then work in the delivery room looks no different, but staff and mother will then have to wear protective clothing. "Midwives and women fully masked - I imagine that terribly." Wibke Klug is convinced that this should not make births easier for women. "Actually, they should stay with themselves and focus on their strength. But if everyone around you looks like Martians, that's difficult."

According to the midwifery association, around 300 midwives work in the Hanseatic city. "There are many colleagues who are now doing digital regression and pregnancy preparation," said association chairwoman Andrea Sturm. Of the approximately 21,000 births in Hamburg every year, around 210 are births at home. The demand for it has increased because of Corona.

Positive side effects

But midwife Wibke Klug sees positive sides in the crisis. "I think it's good because women have to relax, so to speak." No visits, no trips - mothers automatically have to think about their baby and themselves.

For the woman from Hamburg, all midwives are heroines - even without a corona crisis. "We immediately leave everything and lie for the women - whether it's a wedding day, my child's birthday or a headache. And that's very heroic!" At the same time, she particularly emphasizes the work of her colleagues in the clinics: "You have no choice. You have to trust the women and their information. They go from woman to woman every day and do not know what they bring with them."

Midwifery Association Hamburg