WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) – Pregnancy and birth come with a lot of questions, worries, and unknowns in a typical year, but the pandemic has compounded that.
“What if I got it? What could happen to my baby? Because there wasn’t much information out about this,” AnnaMarie Bryant from Lac du Flambeau said. She gave birth to a baby boy in June of 2020.
COVID-19 research, in general, is limited because scientists are learning as they go, but in the pregnant population, it is even more limited. That is due not only to the small population size, but researchers are hesitant to include pregnant women in studies. As time passes, studies are giving indications about the many questions expectant moms have about COVID-19, the vaccines, and their risks and impacts, but moms are still left to make difficult decisions with limited information.
“They don’t like to see science unfold. I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘I don’t want to be a guinea pig,’ which is understandable. It’s scary to think we don’t have a lot more than eight or nine months of data,” said Dr. Kylene Draeger, MD.
She is part of the American Academy of Pediatrics and works at Wausau Aspirus Pediatrics Clinic and Hospital. She has been keeping up on the available research regarding pregnancy and COVID-19 and has read the vaccine clinical trials not only to help inform her patients; she faces the same decisions as other moms. She is due with her second child in May.
“It was a difficult decision probably for a lot of people have faced, thinking do we delay getting pregnant because of COVID?”
The CDC states that based on surveillance so far and existing knowledge about the physiological and immunological changes pregnant women go through, they are at a higher risk of contracting a severe case and being hospitalized for COVID-19, about five times more likely compared to women who are not pregnant. They are especially at risk if they are obese or have other underlying health issues.
There are certainly several examples of pregnant women who have a mild case or are asymptomatic, too. Out of 12 women NewsChannel 7 spoke to who are either pregnant or gave birth during the pandemic (including Dr. Draeger), three were diagnosed with COVID-19.
All three of the women had mild cases. They described it as a bad cold lasting a short as a few days to about two weeks, and all lost their taste and smell.
“After being sick for about a day and recovered fully. That was probably around 5 months pregnant,” Lynsi Bradford from Wausau stated. She is due in May of 2021.
“I didn’t even have, like, a fever, which was my OB’s main concern,” explained Lindsey Hayes from Wausau. She is due this summer.
Kori McKay from Stevens Point ended up in the hospital, but it turns out it was not due to being COVID-positive. A week before her due date, she called her doctor to notify him on Oct. 28 that she had tested positive for COVID-19.
“I called the doctor back and I said I am feeling miserable right now. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if my water broke. I don’t feel good,” she recalled. “They said, ‘okay we’ll have you come in.’ So, they ran a couple of tests or whatever and it was basically like, ‘you’re going to have a kid.’ And I just called them and told them I was COVID-positive.”
A few hours later, her son Ethan was born. He and McKay are doing well.
So, what is the impact to the fetus when a mother tests positive for COVID-19?
“We know that getting coronavirus can cause problems with baby’s growth, causing them to not grow as well and doctors have actually been inducing early just because babies stop growing,” Dr. Draeger said.
The National Institutes of Health found pregnancy complications are more likely if the mother has a severe case of COVID-19. Researchers did not find serious issues with the mothers who had mild cases or were asymptomatic. However, if a mother is diagnosed early in her pregnancy, Dr. Draeger noted there is a higher risk of miscarriage.
“We have had testing done on infants that are born to moms who are positive for coronavirus and we haven’t had very many ending up being positive,” Dr. Draeger said gratefully.
Research published in the JAMA Pediatrics is also beginning to show that antibodies from an infected mother are likely passing onto the baby, but whether the antibodies are enough to protect the infant is unknown. So far, data suggests it is safe to breastfeed, too, with the same thought in mind.
“The moms that have been positive, we have them keep breastfeeding and their babies have just been fine,” Dr. Draeger explained.
Then comes the decision about whether to get vaccinated for COVID-19 when it is available.
“Choosing not to get the vaccine doesn’t come with no risk because you could get coronavirus, and again, a lot of people are fine, but there are a lot of people who get really sick. We also don’t know the long-term effects of coronavirus,” Dr. Draeger cautioned.
NewsChannel 7 is continuing its coverage of how COVID-19 has impacted pregnant women. We will be sharing what the data show so far about pregnancy and the COVID-19 vaccines Monday on NewsChannel 7 at 5. We will also be sharing the experiences of local mothers who have been pregnant or given birth during the pandemic in the days and weeks to come.
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