Necessary action need to take in case of suspected coronavirus infection or been exposed
Any individual including pregnant women can understand the possibility of Coronavirus infection in the presence of certain symptoms, which include a high temperature and recent continuous coughing symptoms. In this condition, a suspected patient need to be self-quarantined in their home for 7 days time period. During this period, pregnant women should contact with maternity unit and inform them that some suggestive coronavirus symptoms are significant in her body. Providing this information is important to the maternity unit before attaining any routine appointments during the next seven days. The Maternity unit will provide the suggestion during your self-isolation period to maintain the well-being of the expected mother and her unborn child.
Usually, during this period, you should not be panic, but contact with the local health authority to inform the condition. In case of severity of the symptoms is high or condition become worsens during the self-isolation period, or condition is not improved after seven days, then the patient may need to shift to the hospital for extra medical care.
Confirmation of Coronavirus infection
Coronavirus infection testing procedure is constantly changing. However, the testing procedure is the same for every suspected individual including pregnant women. The testing involves a collection of a sample from the mouth and nose through the swab. In some cases, a sputum test is also conducted.
Advice for Coronavirus positive expected mothers
A pregnant woman with a positive test for Coronavirus needs to inform her antenatal team about her recent diagnosis. The doctor usually advises staying home until the symptoms gradually recovered, as mild or asymptomatic conditions are self-limited. But in case of severe symptoms, a patient needs to hospitalized for proper treatment.
Why self-isolation at home is recommended for Coronavirus suspected and mildly infected patients?
Self-isolation for every coronavirus is an important step because:
in most of the cases, the symptoms are mild and patient recover after a certain period
This also helps to prevent transmission of this disease to another person through contact.
How self-isolation period become easy for a pregnant woman during her coronavirus infection period?
- During this period no visitors should allow inside the home, but the necessary household things require to maintain the daily life can be kept outside the door by neighbors, friends, and relatives and inform telephonically to collect the material is always make easy for a pregnant woman to pass the self-isolation period without scarcity of any essential things including medicines, food ration, etc.
- The Pregnant woman should arrange video chatting with her friends and family members to avoid boredom.
- Music therapy is good to maintain mental peace.
- Adequate rest is essential for rapid recovery.
- Intake of proper medication, natural immunity booster such as ginger, turmeric and honey helps to recover fast.
- Perform pregnancy yoga to keep oneself physically and mentally active.
What are the important steps that need to follow after recovering from coronavirus infection during pregnancy?
After two weeks of confirming recovery from coronavirus infection, a pregnant woman should undergo an ultrasound scan for checking the fetus’s growth rate and other health conditions.
Proper selection of delivery process along with the place where delivery needs to conduct is two important considerations if the delivery date is near after just recovering from coronavirus infection.
Restricted visitors are allowed during and after delivery of the child to prevent further complications and preserve child safety.
How can pregnant women manage unwell situation during her self-isolation period?
Pregnant women usually advise not to attend their routine maternity visit during self-isolation period unless medical care requirement is urgent. But in case of pregnant women become worried about the health of her unborn child, she can telephonically contact with her maternity team to get proper advice.
Private transport, or hospital transport arrangement require in case of an essential visit to the hospital requires during the self-isolation period and provide alert to the maternity unit reception once the patient has entered the premises instead to direct admission to the hospital.
What are the clinical parameters that need to check during the delivery of the self-isolated pregnancy that takes place?
The obstetric unit continuously using electronic fetal monitoring for checking the health condition of the unborn baby and also periodically monitor the oxygen levels of the mother in case of pregnant women with suspected or confirmed coronavirus go into labor. The continuous fetal monitoring helps to check the status of the copying ability of the baby during labor. The Maternity unit works hard to manage additional pressures and facilitate the patient’s choices to the best of their abilities.
Any restriction related to the procedure of giving birth during self-isolation for suspected or confirmed coronavirus infection of a pregnant woman?
Coronavirus re-testing arrangement needs to conduct.
The mother should wear masks and other possible personal protection equipment (PPE) before entering to the labor room.
All the medical staff must wear PPE and maintain self-hygiene and social distancing measures as much as possible.
Yet now no restriction of vaginal or cesarean delivery process has declared by medical fraternity for suspected or confirmed coronavirus infection of a pregnant woman. Therefore, the patient has the right to select her choice and maternity unit to respect her wish and follow all the procedures.
But giving birth a birthing pool in hospital is not allowed during this COVID-19 pandemic condition. It is suspected that this virus can excrete out through feces and contaminate water, which increases the risk of infection transmission to the newborn. Healthcare staffs may also face difficulty maintaining adequate protection during a water birth.
No evidence yet supported that an epidural or a spinal block method cannot be applied to the suspected or confirmed coronavirus cases during delivery. Some may think that the Entonox should not be used during labor as the aerosolization may increase the chance of spreading the virus. However, yet now no evidence supports this risk factor.
After giving birth, self-isolation should be strictly maintained until the test result has shown a negative outcome.
Reference:
Ravi Sharma is a self-motivated, successful entrepreneur and has a solid experience in the fertility segment. and he is the director at ARTbaby Global (ARThealthcare). He is a pharmacy graduate with post-graduation in business administration and has 14 years of rich experience in the field of infertility segment. He loves to write about IVF, Surrogacy, and other ART (assisted reproductive technology) news, issues, and updates. He is a Pharmacy graduate (B. Pharm) and M.B.A (marketing).
His most recent success includes the successful launch of the medical tourism company, ARTbaby, which offers treatment options for infertility, egg donation, and surrogacy. He likes spending time with his family and writing about various aspects of IVF surrogacy and donating eggs.