Kobie Solomon Chernick was born on Friday 27th March 2020.
There is so much bad news circulating on the internet so we both wanted to share our positive birth story during this COVID-19 outbreak.
With it being our second IVF pregnancy our anxieties were already very high and with the news of this horrible Covid-19 spreading like wild fire through the world we were even more concerned.
I was concerned for my wife and our other son who is nearly 3 and obviously I wanted to be well enough to be there to support my wife. I stopped working on the on Monday 16th March due to government advice for at risk groups, including pregnant ladies, to self-isolate and it made sense that I self-isolated as well. We also took our 2.5 year old son out of nursery. My parents, who live locally, also started to self-isolate.
My wife was booked in for an induction on Wednesday 25th March as she was over her due date. On the evening of Tuesday 24th March we dropped off our son at my parents, where he was looked after and was to stay until after the birth.
The Birth
We were admitted to the maternity ward, at Wythenshawe hospital on Wednesday 25th March but there was a wait for the delivery suite so our treatment was delayed.
We were told the delivery suite had 18 visitors in 24 hours. The hospital had shut ward another maternity ward, due to staff shortages and illness. This left only 1 ward was open for both pre and post natal ladies.
Once on the ward you are allowed to have 1 birth partner who can visit 8am to midnight. Everything felt ‘normal’ on the ward which helped with our anxieties.
When speaking to the midwife and the staff they said “it’s very much business as usual”. They said their job is very hands on and contact cannot be avoided.
We were in and out of hospital for a few days but eventually labor started naturally on Thursday 26th in the afternoon. We went straight to the ward.
My wife’s contractions were progressing quickly and she was in a lot of pain so we were given an option of midwife led unit or consultant led.
My wife decided she wanted an epidural, due to the increasing pain levels and the difficult labor with her previous pregnancy, so went for the consultant led where we had our own dedicated midwife.
It was a very calm atmosphere. We had a few issues during labor as Kobie decided he wanted to try and come out back-to -back and got stuck – so we ended up with forceps and episiotomy involving a few midwives, a doctor, and an anesthetist who safely delivered our son on the 27th. We then went to a recovery ward.
My wife got discharged the next day with guidance and pain relief medication.
Follow up Care
My wife got a call from the community midwife the following day after she was discharged instead of a home visit and a home visit on day 5 when the midwife did a routine heel prick test and all was fine. Kobie was doing great with his weight too. We got another call on day 10.
Kobie and our family of four are thriving and happy despite the surrounding chaos and enjoying our time together.
Thank you NHS
We did not feel worried or concerned about the coronavirus at any point. We were kept informed about the stringent use of good hygiene protocols and extra emphasis was put on regular hand washing.
The NHS staff are amazing & we had access to everything we needed. Many of these amazing people are self isolating themselves from their own loved ones and families to help others.
We wanted to say a big thank you to the NHS staff who gave my wife and I a wonderful experience despite the labor not being straightforward and carrying on regardless during this crisis
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The hardest part in all of this is not seeing our friends and family and introducing Kobie to them in person. We had a visit from grandparents soon after the birth who saw him through the porch window and couldn’t hold him.
What an unusual situation, it won’t be one to forget.
We hope to celebrate Kobie’s arrival with friends and family as soon as the lockdown is over, hopefully it won’t be long.
Robert & Tara Chernick
If you have had a baby recently and would like to talk to one of our specialist pediatric osteopaths please give us a call 0161 4781877 Hopefully we will be able to reopen soon and we look forward to welcoming all your new additions, in person, soon. Find out more
Useful Resources for new parents / Parents to be during Covid 19:
