Niagara Midwives

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COVID-19

If you are concerned and have questions about COVID-19 and how this may affect your pregnancy and care, you are not alone. If you have specific questions regarding COVID-19 OR IF YOU OR YOUR BABY HAVE ANY SYMPTOMS OF COVID-19 PLEASE CALL the Niagara Region Public Health info line at 905-688-8248 ext 7330. Use the links below for further information on the virus and its impact on pregnancy and the newborn.

ANSWERING QUESTIONS ABOUT COVID-19: Due to the OVERWHELMING number of emails and phone calls regarding COVID-19, our administrators will be directing you to our website and the sites below if you email or call the office with inquiries. We are providing the information below to highlight changes we are making to minimize the risk of COVID-19 exposure to clients, our support staff, our midwives, and the greater community. We will be updating the site as any new information becomes available.

INFECTION PREVENTION: We already use strong infection control practices and will continue to do so during this COVID-19 pandemic. We encourage you to do your part and adhere to social distancing and strong hand washing techniques. Furthermore, we cannot stress enough the importance of postpartum women not accepting visitors after the baby is born. We understand the desire to introduce your new baby to your friends and family, but you are putting yourself, your baby and your community at risk when you do so. PLEASE CONTINUE SOCIAL DISTANCING AFTER THE BIRTH.

PRENATAL VISTS WITH THE MIDWIVES: For the time being, we will be adopting the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendations for how many visits a pregnant woman needs during her pregnancy, and at what time interval. For all of our healthy, low-risk clients without any indications for closer monitoring, we will plan:

First trimester: one visit at 10-12 weeks
Second trimester: one visit at 18- 20 weeks and one visit at 24-26 weeks
Third trimester: visits at 30, 34, 36, 38 and 40 weeks

If your midwives feel you need closer monitoring than the above schedule, we will inform you about your individualized care plan. You may receive a call either from an administrator or midwife to adjust your appointment interval to follow the WHO guidelines.

WHEN YOU ARRIVE FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT: The waiting room is closed and so we ask that when you arrive for your appointment, you call the office at 905-684-6377 to inform our administrator of your arrival. If your midwife is ready, Rachel or Marcie will direct you to come inside and directly upstairs. If the midwife needs a few more minutes, please wait for a call back to enter the clinic. Again, please do not come to clinic if you are sick. Please wash your hands upon arrival, followed by using hand sanitizer) and use proper cough etiquette (into your elbow).

SAFETY MEASURES FOR VISITS: We ask the following in regards to safety during clinic appointments:

PLEASE DO NOT COME TO THE CLINIC IF YOU ARE ILL OR ARE SELF-ISOLATING DUE TO A HISTORY OF TRAVEL. Call the clinic before coming if you are not sure if you should come.
Please wash your hands and use hand sanitizer upon arrival.
Please plan to attend your appointments alone if you are currently pregnant, and only with your baby if you are postpartum. Support people may FaceTime or call you to be included in discussions.
If your care has been transferred to an obstetrician, your supportive care visits will occur by phone.
Please wear a mask for every in-person interaction with your midwife.

POSTPARTUM VISITS: On-call midwives will be reaching out by phone as usual to plan for postpartum home visits. Please answer this phone call so we can screen if it is safe to do a home visit. When your midwife arrives, we expect you have protected your home environment from unnecessary viral exposure by minimizing all visitors.

PLACE OF BIRTH: We will continue to offer homebirth, and we encourage it as a safe option during this pandemic for healthy, low-risk women but are asking that no more than 2 support people attend the birth. If you are planning a hospital birth, please note the number of support people/visitors to the hospital has been limited to one support person per client, and this person must remain constant throughout the delivery and postpartum hospital stay – you cannot change / switch support people. Grandparents and siblings are not permitted to visit at this time. We strongly encourage early discharge from the hospital if you and your baby meet the criteria to safely do so (at 3-4 hours after the birth).

COVID-19 IN PREGNANCY AND THE NEWBORN: Please see the CDC links below for information on COVID-19 in pregnancy and in children.

COVID-19

Center for Disease Control (CDC)

OTHER LINKS REGARDING COVID-19

Niagara Public Health

Center for Disease Control (CDC)

World Health Organization

Association of Ontario Midwives