Photos: The anxieties of giving birth during the coronavirus pandemic

As COVID-19 puts the globe on pause and changes every aspect of daily life, women are entering motherhood with a mixture of anxiety, fear and frustration. Some countries and a few US hospitals have banned everyone from the delivery room. Others are separating women who become sick from their newborns. With no idea what to expect, Nancy Pedroza was initially convinced the hospital was the safest place to have her first baby, but the speed at which the pandemic unfolded across the United States, led to hard questions for the first-time parent.

Updated on: Apr 18, 2020 3:31 PM IST

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Nancy Pedroza, 27, feels her stomach at her parent’s house in Fort Worth, Texas. As a first-time mother with no idea what to expect, Pedroza was convinced the hospital was the safest place to have her baby. (Callaghan O'Hare / REUTERS)

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Nancy Pedroza attends an appointment with her licensed midwives Susan Taylor (L), and Amanda Prouty, in Taylor’s home office in Fort Worth. Pedroza’s conviction turned to doubt when in late March most US states ordered residents to stay home and hospitals and doctors began taking new precautions to protect pregnant women and their babies against the novel coronavirus. (Callaghan O'Hare / REUTERS)

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Nancy Pedroza has her temperature taken by her midwife. “Thing were changing so fast,” said Pedroza, who lives with her partner at her parents’ house. She had to go alone to all her visits with her obstetrician where before she had brought along either Morgan or a doula, a birth assistant. (Callaghan O'Hare / REUTERS)

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Nancy Pedroza is supported by Ryan Morgan and Nichollette Jones, her doula, as she experiences contractions. At 40 weeks pregnant, Pedroza turned to a midwife to help her have a home birth. She and her partner Ryan Morgan were about to become parents in the middle of a pandemic. (Callaghan O'Hare / REUTERS)

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But what really scared her was that the hospital would allow only one person accompanying her and warned that the policy could change and might bar all visitors. “It was scary to feel like I might have to do it alone,” she said. “It’s nothing like having someone there that you care about and cares about you that’s willing to hold your hand and tell you this is going to be OK.” (Callaghan O'Hare / REUTERS)

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By early April, with her baby past due and learning Medicaid would not cover a home birth, Pedroza considered giving birth at home without any medical assistance. After labouring several hours in a birthing tub in midwife Susan Taylor’s home, Pedroza started pushing, but the baby’s heart rate suddenly dropped from 130 to 30, so the midwives called an ambulance. (Callaghan O'Hare / REUTERS)

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Masked emergency workers put Pedroza onto a stretcher and wheeled her to an ambulance that took her and Morgan to Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest around 1 am. Taylor rode with her in the ambulance, monitoring the baby’s heartbeat. (Callaghan O'Hare / REUTERS)

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“Once I got the epidural administered and calmed me down a little bit and realizing I’d still be able to do this myself without possibly having a C-section and hearing the baby’s heartbeat on the monitor it brought me so much comfort that I didn’t care I was at the hospital at that point,” said Pedroza, who worked as a massage therapist before becoming pregnant. (Callaghan O'Hare / REUTERS)

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After labouring with a mask on for hours, at 5:55 am on April 8 a healthy baby boy named Kai Rohan Morgan was born, weighing 8 pounds and 5 ounces. (Callaghan O'Hare / REUTERS)

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Ryan Morgan and Nancy Pedroza relax with their two-day old son Kai Rohan Morgan, at Pedroza’s parent’s home, where they are all currently living, during the coronavirus outbreak, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Callaghan O'Hare / REUTERS)

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A baby’s bodysuit sits on a desk, at midwife’s Susan Taylor’s home, before Pedroza gave birth to her son. “It’s already kind of scary thinking that it’s a possibility that you’re going to be in an environment that is contaminated or that puts you at risk or your baby at risk,” Pedroza said. “What puts me on edge more is seeing everyone with that attire and being very adamant about wearing it” (Callaghan O'Hare / REUTERS)