Giving birth after Covid

[Shmerlock]

Hello everyone! I guess this is a post seeking out a little reassurance, I've managed to let something silly really get in to my head and now it's starting to spiral .

Last week, during a night of pregnancy induced insomnia, I was messing about on my phone in the early hours when a friend (who recently had a baby herself) sent me a link to a news article all about women who have had babies after Covid. In the article it talked about how these women were more likely to suffer from severe complications during their birth such as maternal death and stillbirth.

Now, I should add some backstory here. I am a primary teacher, and in February I contracted Covid at 16 weeks after a few of my class caught the virus. I didn't suffer badly - it felt like a bad case of the flu for a week or so and I lost my taste and smell (which I'm gutted to say has yet to fully return!!). I should also add that I have always been terrified of birth and labour - since being very young myself. So much so that I have taken far longer to conceive due to my own anxiety and fear.

Since reading this article I have now managed to convince myself that something is going to go horribly wrong during my baby's birth - and when i say wrong, I'm talking in the extreme!!

Logically, I know that I've had countless midwife appointments/tests since and all have come back fine - and surely they would detect any issues!? But since reading this article I've now managed to work myself up.

I would just love to hear of any else's experience of giving birth after covid - did it impact on your baby? Your own health/labour?

Thank you, and apologies for the lengthy post!!

What a shitty thing for your 'friend' to do.

I had severe anxiety about labour and was convinced that I would die. It got so bad that I ended up having therapy and also did hypnobirthing.
I couldn't recommend it enough. The therapy helped me work through it and the hypnobirthing helped me stay calm and relaxed throughout the labour and birth.

I really hope it all goes well xx

Why would your ‘friend’ do that? Trying to worry someone is cruel.

If you think logically, covid is a global pandemic and millions of babies will have been born to mothers who have had covid at various stages of their pregnancy. If there was a link to birth defects and stillbirth this would be being widely publicised. Think about the news around Zika virus when that was around.

I would suggest speaking to your midwife and the mental health team. It’s a shame for anxiety to ruin the rest of your pregnancy and they may have ways to make you feel better.

I haven’t had a baby post covid but I would be very surprised if you are at any raised risk of serious problems at birth. Try to remember that underneath the vehement fear campaign raged by the government over the past 18 months, for the vast majority of people - and clearly you included due to the extent of your illness - it is still just a cold virus and as far as I’m aware, catching a cold during pregnancy does not increase any risks at birth.
I would also be interested to know when that awful article was published, was it after it became recommended that pregnant women receive the vaccine by any chance? A nice bit of fear induced coercion there!

In the meantime, try your best to relax and look forward to your beautiful and exciting new arrival.

@Houseofvelour thank you, I've done some hypnobirthing with my partner - just need to keep practicing the breathing techniques. It's definitely helped me though and it's so reassuring to hear other people's experiences! Hope you and your little one are well xx

@Teakind thank you, definitely going to talk to my midwife again. My initial appointment was with a different midwife and she was very dismissive of my anxieties but my more recent community midwife has been lovely. That's a really good way of looking at it, hadn't even thought of it that way!! I honestly don't know what came over my friend, the whole thing was very out of character too xx

@Lostinacloud another brilliant point!! I knew MN crew would help break through the anxiety fog that has taken over my brain these last few days!!! Thank you so much for your response and I hope you are well!

A final word as well, I saw something recently which really resonated with me regarding data involving pregnant women. It stated that data regarding covid and pregnant women/birth outcomes was likely to be severely skewed due to the fact that every single woman going into hospital was being tested for covid beforehand. This means that all cases were picked up (and maybe some false positives) whether the women were ill or not. If then, some of these women went on to have particularly difficult births for whatever reason, based on bare faced data it might look like covid was a contributing factor. When actually, the woman may not have even been unwell and covid had nothing to do with the outcome.

The idea of labour is quite scary but having had 4DC (and having also had a few problems which were eventually resolved at the time of giving birth) I can promise you that your body is amazing and knows what to do. It is actually an incredibly powerful experience and you will be surprised at what you will be able to achieve and absolutely thrilled with the end result

@Lostinacloud thank you so much!!!

Stillbirths are thankfully pretty rare, 3400 annually. Maternal death is very rare, about 70 annually. Bearing in mind only 6% of the uk population has actually tested positive for covid, AND we only have one year of data, it’s deeply deeply unlikely that any causation between having covid and these adverse evens could be shown. Normally with rare events there might be some studies which would attempt to identify factors these women had in common... but that’s not conclusive at all, it just informs future research.
In conclusion I think your friend is a) talking bollocks and b) is not really your friend

What a silly thing for a friend to do. The anxiety and worries of pregnancy is bad enough, added on top the current pandemic and social distancing! How very inconsiderate.
I would say, having read previous articles you may find actually contracting covid whilst pregnant a bit more comforting then not due to the possible fact your baby may have antibodies to the virus!
Enjoy the rest of your pregnancy and steer clear of crap, oh and google 😆

@HayB honestly it is so out of character for her!! I really don't think her intention was to upset me - but unfortunately I'm a worrier to the extreme at the best of times and this has managed to really get in to my head!!! Thank you for your lovely post and reassurance! Take care xx

@FudgeSundae very, very true! I think my brain has switched off from reality and let the anxiety do all the talking these last few days. This has provided some much needed perspective!!!

Not sure what article it was but I read a similar article a while back about stilbirth rates having gone up during the pandemic. HOWEVER this was talking about worldwide (not UK) and was back in March when it first started and everything worldwide went into complete lockdown so sadly many mothers particularly in other countries did not have normal access to midwife appointments etc.

@Peaplant20 it was a Sky one if I remember rightly? This is so true, and heartbreaking for so many countries that are disadvantaged. I've never been more grateful for the NHS than I have the last 7 months! Take care :)