Re:We Expect 300k Fewer Births Than Usual This Year in the US
by sokoloff on Thursday March 04, 2021 @09:59AM
(#26343212)
We have two kids (meticulously over-planned :) ), but when I look back to the incredible level of uncertainty that was in the world in March-May of last year, we'd have taken significant precautions to not get pregnant during that timeframe.
No one knew what hospitals were going to look like in July 2020, let alone Feb 2021. I'm glad that we are in a stable situation where providing in-hospital labor&delivery care is reasonably safe, but you couldn't have really banked on that to be the case at the critical start of the process.
Re:We Expect 300k Fewer Births Than Usual This Year in the US
by milesdyson_phd on Thursday March 04, 2021 @11:44AM
(#26344677)
During the height of severe covid cases in my area a lot of hospitals were not even allowing spouses in during delivery, so yes it was still relatively safe but definitely not the same.
Re:We Expect 300k Fewer Births Than Usual This Year in the US
by beowulfey on Thursday March 04, 2021 @10:31AM
(#26343630)
It's not the fact that hospitals cannot handle it.
It's when you consider the cost-benefit of the increased risk associated with being in the hospital during a pandemic and possibly experiencing stronger symptoms/complications because of the pregnancy if getting sick, the scale tips away from trying for kids.
My wife works in a maternity ward.
Babies are a high priority. They're fully prepared to deliver babies from covid-positive mothers. (And, yes, there's been plenty of covid-positive mothers.)
And, because visitors are strictly limited, it's actually quite easy in the maternity ward.
I went in because we got pregnant thanks to being stuck at home. It's much more peaceful without a parade of visitors, but super-scary because some of the delivery rooms have negative pressure machines in case there's a covid-positive mother.