Waco Reporter

Texas hospitals and physicians are cutting back on the number of people allowed in maternity wards to reduce exposure to the coronavirus, Texas Monthly reported.

Elective procedures nationwide were canceled, but pregnant women can't cancel their births — so, some are now considering home births or delivering in birthing centers to further reduce the risk of exposure, according to the news agency. Some are also spacing out their prenatal appointments or opting for telemedicine.

Texas Monthly also reported that hospitals are screening patients and visitors for coronavirus symptoms and limiting the number of people allowed in the labor and delivery wards, all while trying to keep patients calm and informed during the stress of childbirth.

Alexandra Wyatt, a midwife and the owner of Heritage Births in Lubbock, told the news agency that she had received many calls from women looking to give birth at the birthing center or at home.

“It has been a valid and safe option all along, but I think most people thought that in order to have an out-of-hospital birth you had to be completely hippie or crunchy,” Wyatt told Texas Monthly. “I’m glad that midwives are able to step up and help out our fellow physicians so that they’re able to be the most helpful with the cases where they’re actually really and truly needed.”

Wyatt's practice has two birthing suites in addition to offering home births. She said, however, that she only takes on low-risk patients and if anyone involved had coronavirus symptoms, she would immediately transfer them to a hospital, the news agency reported.

As some hospitals have disallowed even spouses in delivery rooms, one mother, Dominque Foegelle, has been preparing her husband for that possibility. Foegelle is having twins at a San Antonio hospital, the news agency reported.

“I’ve tried to discuss it with my husband and have a plan just in case, but I get emotional,” Foegelle told the news agency. “I would definitely be sad and overwhelmed after the delivery, especially with two babies in the hospital and figuring out how to manage that.”

Dr. Sean Blackwell, a high-risk specialist and chair of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, told Texas Monthly that there is also a risk that mothers-to-be will have coronavirus, so they are isolated upon arrival and given a mask.

Blackwell told the news agency that doctors are trying to make changes for patients in most cases, while lessening the time women are in hospitals.

Dr. Patrick Ramsey, the medical director for maternal transport and outreach at UTHealth San Antonio and University Health System told Texas Monthly that the medical community is also monitoring SARS and MERS, which are closely related to coronavirus, for possible birth defects, though so far it appears there are none.

"She’s still going to have a normal delivery, but we’re just going to take extra precautions to make sure that she doesn’t get exposed and the providers don’t get exposed,” Ramsey told the news agency.