Being pregnant in 2020 has been a particularly odd time to be expecting a child. Not only have you got fewer opportunities to head to pre-natal classes, and to meet soon-to-be mums from across your local community, but you’ll be living in fear of the coronavirus itself, and the impact it might have on the health of your unborn infant. In this short guide, we’ll look at planning your birth in light of these different and novel factors, ensuring that you’re as comfortable and stress-free as possible when it comes to your expected birth.
Important People
There are a number of important people who need to be around the mother at the time of birth. Namely, these are doctors and midwives that you’ve been getting to know since you become pregnant – but you’ll also want your partner to be at hand for when the child is born, as well as your other friends and family, as and when restrictions are lifted on meet-ups in enclosed spaces. It’s important that you follow the coronavirus guidelines with these meet-ups – and accept that it’s likely that your family will have to meet your newborn outside in the coming months.
The Day
Of course, the day of your birth is one of the most important in your life – a milestone and a day you’ll always remember. You want it to go off without a hitch. This means planning how you’re going to get to the hospital, or whether you’d prefer a home birth. It means keeping track of your due date, and of how you’re feeling in the run-up to that date. And it means talking through, with your partner, a plan for your the day of the birth.
Safety and Health
There’s nothing more important for a pregnant individual than safety and health. That means it’ll not be difficult to set yourself rules and restrictions when it comes not only to drinking and smoking and eating unhealthily – but also to socialising outside your ‘bubble’. With coronavirus still considered a novel virus that we don’t completely understand, it’s far safer to simply socially distance everywhere you go – and to avoid situations where you might catch COVID-19 – than to continue your daily life as if things were back to normal.
Birth Mishaps
Births often don’t go to plan – which isn’t to say they go wrong, just that they go differently to what you might have expected. Breach births, for instance, require a different process of birthing from midwives and doctors than more conventional births. This is normal, and happens in a great number of births. What’s less frequent is birth injuries caused by the medical professionals at hand for your birth. If you feel this happened to you or your child, it’s worth talking to gentle and compassionate advisors to see if you’re due compensation. Contact birth injury solicitors near you to find out what you can do in the event of an injury at your birth.
With all these steps planned, you’ll be ready to enjoy your birth with peace of mind.