Pregnant in the pandemic: "The worries have changed"

Created: 02/09/2022, 02:00 p.m

By: Uta Künkler

Experienced a Corona pregnancy: Ramona and Michael Weber with Marlene (3) and Baby Luitpold.

© Private

Preparing for birth online, little exchange, no visit to the clinic: A young family tells what it's like to be pregnant during the pandemic.

Erding

- Anyone who is pregnant during the pandemic always has a close eye on the incidence, as the rules at birth depend on it: Can the expectant father go to the doctor's check-ups?

Is he present in the clinic right from the start or is he only called in when it comes to the delivery room?

And what are the visiting rules on the maternity ward?

Are only new fathers allowed there for one hour a day, or are siblings allowed too?

The worries of pregnant women have changed

"Parents-to-be are having a hard time at the moment," says Sonja Jenke, a midwife from Finsing.

“Women need their men for support so badly.

And men find it difficult to bond with the child at first.

If they are not there for the ultrasound, nor extensively in the first few days after the birth, it doesn't make it any easier."

Her Erdinger colleague Lena Buschmeier adds: “The worries of the pregnant women have changed.” Above all, the young couples are of course afraid of corona and uncertainties about vaccination during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

All the trappings of pregnancy shut down

The Weber family from Eicherloh can look back on two pregnancies, one with a pandemic and one without.

The couple took their three-year-old daughter Marlene out of kindergarten early in autumn 2021 and withdrew very much socially in order not to risk infection with the corona virus in the last trimester of pregnancy - Ramona Weber only had herself vaccinated after the birth of her son due to uncertainty .

"Of course it wasn't easy, very pregnant with a three-year-old isolated at home," she says.

There was no face-to-face birth preparation course this time.

Ramona Weber also has no place in an online retraining course.

All the trappings of pregnancy have been shut down, moved to the internet, or eliminated altogether.

"It's a shame for the women," says midwife Jenke.

After all, their whole life changes when they are born, so it is very important to talk to others in the same situation.

And online is something completely different.

The midwives are trying to prepare other platforms: The Erdinger midwife Buschmeier, for example, has opened WhatsApp groups for "her" expectant and young parents.

Papa Michael Weber: "It's all tolerable, but it's not nice." 

The most difficult time for the Webers was after the birth.

Papa Michael was allowed to visit his wife and son in the clinic for an hour every day.

But daughter Marlene had to stay outside.

"She has become a sister and was not allowed to see her mother for five days immediately after this message, which was very bad for her," says Michael Weber.

She would have struggled with that for weeks after her brother was born.

"It's all tolerable," says the young father.

"But it's not nice." 

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