Special Section: The COVID-19 Pandemic
Above: Illustration by Chris Harvey not created in reference to the author’s likeness.
Pregnant in Akron During a Pandemic by Aja Hannah
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ith COVID-19 changing the landscape of the medical field, pregnant women may be feeling especially down at this time. Baby showers, pregnancy portraits and baby shopping trips have been due to restrictions on gathering sizes. While some families have adapted with online registries and “drive-thru” baby showers, others have postponed it all. Pregnancy has almost become a second thought against the backdrop of COVID-19; the shopping restrictions, the stay-at-home orders, the massive lay-offs, social distancing, and ever changing news. At least, that is how it is for me at 35 weeks pregnant. I’m due in May with our second child. Things were already different. We didn’t have a baby shower planned, but we were going to buy a second vehicle. Now we aren’t going anywhere, so there is no point. We were going to get pregnancy portraits done since we did them for our first pregnancy. Forget about that. Although there is not a lot of research on COVID-19 and pregnancy, the CDC advises that “pregnant people seem to have the same risk as adults who are not pregnant” but that “pregnant people have had a higher risk of severe illness
6 | The Devil Strip
when infected with viruses from the same family as COVID-19 and other viral respiratory infections, such as influenza.” For us, this means I am no longer the primary grocery shopper and I’ve been told to stay home whenever an errand needs to be run. At first, it was a nice relief, but now certain brands or flavors of things aren’t being bought which trips up my pregnancy cravings. Not to mention the cabin fever. But all these issues are minor when compared to the most striking changes in the medical field. Everything from routine OBGYN visits to the delivery to the postpartum stay has changed and continues to require me to be open to change.
THE OFFICES Most OBGYN offices in Summit County have expanded their telehealth appointments for patients or have postponed routine checkups altogether. For pregnant women, this can increase their stress. They want to know their babies are healthy and developing properly, especially first-time moms. In many cases across the country, OBGYN offices are still open for those who are
high-risk or having an emergency, but staff has been reduced. At Cleveland Clinic offices, OBGYNs are not seeing new pregnant patients until after the first scheduled ultrasound around 12 weeks — unless of course there is concern about the mother or baby. They are still scheduling patients when it is a necessary appointment that involves a possible complication, bloodwork or ultrasounds. This keeps pregnant women out of the office and minimizes the risk of catching coronavirus. The office is also recommending low-risk pregnant patients forgo inperson visits if they have access to a blood pressure cuff and doppler (to monitor the baby’s heart rate) at home. Patients who have this equipment now have the option of telehealth check-ups. But these items can be expensive and, with so many people laid off or working reduced hours, affordability flies out the window. Like many other pregnant women, I do not have access to this equipment, so I have to go into the office every other week. While it all feels a little dystopian and disconcerting, all the precautions these offices are taking are somewhat reassuring. Patients are typically greeted with a seri es of screening questions; these questions have increased and
May 2020 · Vol 6 · Issue #5
changed as information on the virus becomes available. The nurses running the doors used to just have a bottle of hand sanitizer. Now there are marks on the floor designating the six-foot distance. Patients still get a squirt of sanitizer, but now the nurses are wearing masks and gloves. Patients’ temperatures are also taken using a forehead scanner that does not touch the patient. Many offices won’t let in partners or children, although the latter can be a serious issue for single pregnant moms. Even with all this, I still worry about going in and contracting COVID-19 somehow, like riding on the elevator or using the office’s bathroom. Tessa King, a soon-to-be mother of five, is due in June and she sees a doctor at Associates of Akron. She has a high-risk pregnancy and cannot be seen from home. She has experienced the same changes at her office and said, “It really doesn’t bother me. I’m extremely high-risk this time, so any extra precautions to stay healthy are fine with me. I go twice a week to the doctors from 20 weeks on.” When I see my doctor, she stands at the opposite side of the room and is mostly hands-off except to measure my bump and take the baby’s heart rate. She
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