Chennai: Lockdown babies were inevitable – the cycle of life continues even in the face of a pandemic. While some new parents have taken to naming their children ‘Corona’ and ‘Covid’, many others are struggling with isolation during the lockdown.
In this Mother’s Day special, we look at stories of pregnant women and new mothers – from tribal mothers and their babies missing out on vaccinations, to pregnant doctors helping mothers deliver, and even of a mother reunited with her twins after being separated for almost two months.
Missed vaccines because of lockdown: Tribal mothers in Odisha
Five months pregnant Jasmita Majhi (left) is severely anaemic and is on IV drips while Mahadei Majhi (right), a health worker, is an advocate of breastfeeding in Kalahandi district, Odisha.
On May 8, five-month pregnant Jasmita Majhi (19) and her 35-year-old neighbour Mahadei Majhi, along with her 10-month-old baby, visited the health centre in Kerpai village, Kalahandi, one of the most backward districts in Odisha. The doctor had to immediately put Jasmita on intravenous therapy as her haemoglobin had dipped. Mahadei, who has five children and is a health worker who advocates breastfeeding, had to make up for the missed vaccinations due to the lockdown.
Pregnancy and antenatal care systems have been sidelined in the district which is infamous for starvation deaths, infectious diseases, malnutrition and droughts.
“The maternal and infant mortality rate is high and low-birth weight babies are the norm. Over the last three months, mothers-to-be and their babies have missed out on crucial vaccinations and supplementation. All that they get from the public distribution system is just rice – not even salt. A pregnant woman has to walk at least 10 km to reach the bus stop, from where she can take the bus to the hospital. Quite often, they choose to skip this arduous journey. We are also being unable to home-deliver their medicines as a result of the lockdown,” said Dr Aquinas Edassery, the founder of Swasthya Swaraj, a healthcare and educational NGO.
“The progressive tribal practice of breastfeeding their children beyond three years of age and the strong belief that cow’s milk is for calves, and breast milk of mothers is for human beings keeps the children healthy,” said Dr Aquinas.
Pregnant doctors who helped mothers in labour
Dr Anita Goura, from Kalaburagi district in Karnataka, helped deliver many lockdown babies before delivering her own daughter.
Dr. Anita Goura, an obstetrician and gynaecologist at MR Medical College Hospital, Kalaburagi district, Karnataka, helped deliver 30 lockdown babies while she was pregnant. The last delivery took place on April 20, just 10 days before she gave birth to her own daughter.
Her husband, Dr. Rajiv Konin, a cardiologist on COVID-19 duty, has not held the baby even once. This is the couple’s second child.
“I had come to my mother place for my maternity leave. Together – my mother Dr Annapurna Goura is an obstetrician and gynaecologist – we helped deliver babies and never refused a single pregnant woman during the lockdown,” said Dr Anita.
Dr Bharathy K., an obstetrician and gynaecologist at Vijaya Hospital, Chennai, who is five months pregnant goes about her duty in a flow. “Pregnancy shouldn’t be a deterrent. My husband is also a doctor and my five-year-old is being cared for by my supportive in-laws,” said Dr, Bharathy who is on 24 hours duty three times a week.
Of connections and disconnections
“We always welcome the newborn as Lord Krishna, but this time we are actually locked alone in prisons and coronavirus has turned out to be Kansa. I had welcomed my child even without my husband, who was stuck in Visakhapatnam. I didn’t have my mother also for the delivery, and I was terrified,” said 26-year-old Riya Biswas, from Bareilly, who delivered her child on March 25.
“I have always visualised pregnancy as a socially connecting experience with well-wishers around. It is ironic that even a new addition to the family can be a solitary experience, when you don’t have a support system. The online mother groups and the video calls with my parents in Jalandhar are my saviours,” said Karishma Sharma, a chartered accountant and a first-time mother from Mumbai, who gave birth to a baby boy on April 10.
Sweta Das, an IT analyst with Tata Consultancy Services, Bhubaneswar, is expecting her second child in June. “I had a trustworthy domestic helper whom I got my elder child accustomed to when I got to know I was pregnant, but I had to let go of her because of the pandemic. We live in a red zone and have a tough time managing the house,” she said.
The lockdown has been a blessing in disguise for many. “I love the new-found privacy and space that I didn’t have with my firstborn. I am secretly rejoicing the non-existent unannounced visitors who decide to stay back at a new mother’s place, lacking sheer empathy. I am totally present to bond with my baby and there are no distractions. I just have my mother and husband around and that works great,” said 33-year-old Krishna Vasudev, a schoolteacher in Nagpur, whose son was born on April 5.
The doctors behind lockdown babies
Dr. Sujitha Sivarajan, registrar medical officer at Vijaya Hospital, Chennai, helped deliver a lockdown baby girl on May 9, 2020.
Dr. Sujitha Sivarajan, an obstetrician and gynaecologist at Vijaya Hospital, has helped deliver 90-100 babies during the lockdown. The hustle bustle in labour wards is missing and only one attendant is allowed with the pregnant woman inside the hospital.
“We see 10 patients per day and try spacing out their appointments. Doing deliveries donning the Personal Protective Equipment can be tough and we are left sweating at the end of it.”
Dr. Aishwarya Parthasarathy, consultant gynaecologist and fertility specialist at A4 Hospital, Chennai, and mother of a one-year-old, has been doubling up as a psychologist for pregnant women.
“Last week, I had to abort a baby for the mother who had in fact planned the pregnancy. She was paranoid that coronavirus would infect her and the unborn child. Many weeks of counselling failed, and I had to yield to her wish. My only advice to pregnant women is to be positive, follow social distancing, wash hands frequently and have healthy food. We gynaecologists are at more risk as our patients can be asymptomatic carriers because the COVID-19 test is only done at the ninth month,” she said.
The doctor mother helping cancer patients
Chennai-based resident medical oncologist Dr. S. Kruthika.
Dr S. Kruthika, the resident medical oncologist at the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Specialty Hospital in Omandurar Government Estate, Chennai, delivered her second child on March 19, a few days before the lockdown.
“I have to take care of my newborn, toddler, elderly parents and I have a time slot of four hours for counselling my critical cancer patients o -call. I also have to prepare immune boosting concoctions for my husband who is on COVID-19 duty and wash home-delivered vegetables and fruits. Even after all these efforts, the fear of diapers ordered online being infected remains,” said Dr Kruthika.
“With my first child, I had a severe case of postpartum depression. Now, I have been proactively trying not to slip into it with the support of family members. My husband is my mental strength,” she said.
Mother-to-be scared of the COVID-19 test
Pooja Iyer
Pooja Iyer (29), a product manager at PayPal is eight months pregnant. “I am happy that I can work from home and my whole family is here to look after me. As it is my first child, I would have preferred more follow-ups with the doctor. There was a gap of more than two and a half months between our last two appointments, to avoid unwanted exposure.”
“My biggest fear is the mandatory coronavirus test that I would have to take at the end of the ninth month. We will have to go to a government hospital, the prime zone of infection,” she said.
Mother worried about delivery and doctors on rotation
Sowparnika Kaushik (31) and her husband Harish Sundaram had always enjoyed their all-nighters. After their baby was born on April 23, the all-nighters have continued.
Sowparnika Kaushik delivered a baby boy on April 23.
“I went on maternity leave by the first week of March as I had been advised against travel due to anaemia. Eight months of pregnancy flew, but in the last two months, checkups at the hospital were haphazard as doctors were in rotation due to the crisis and I had to consult different experts, each time. Although, my biggest concern was the hour and a half drive to the hospital from home. I would often worry whether we would make it on time through the Chennai traffic incase an emergency arises. I didn’t want to experiment with doctors for the delivery. But when we did drive down on the due date, we reached in 25 minutes, thanks to the empty roads,” she said.
“I am so glad that we pestered my mother to join us by mid-February, as she lives alone in Mumbai. Otherwise, it would have been tough to raise the newborn amidst the pandemic without her. My husband is also working from home. The joy of a baby shared with your loved ones is the silver lining to what is happening around.”
Mother who got reunited with her kids just before Mother’s Day
Aishwarya Chandrasekaran reunited with her two-year-old twin girls after two months of separation due to the lockdown.
This Mother’s Day is special for Aishwarya Chandrasekaran, a sales professional from Bengaluru, who was reunited with her two -year-old twin baby girls after around two months on May 8, a day after she got the travel pass by the Tamil Nadu government.
The couple were in Bengaluru while the children were in Chennai, with Aishwarya’s elderly parents, her banker brother and pregnant sister-in-law who couldn’t go to her hometown Bihar, for her delivery.
“In the first week of March, all preschools and daycare institutions got shut, which was a good precautionary move but working parents with no local support were left in a lurch. So, I had to leave my daughters at my parents’ place in Chennai for a week or two, assuming that the daycare would become functional by then. But unfortunately, the lockdown was announced and kept extending, making each day challenging for the babies and my family. My brother had to report to work everyday and my parents and sister-in-law were having a tough time. I kept trying repeatedly at police stations but had no luck as my situation didn’t fall in the emergency category. Thankfully, things worked out and I am here in Chennai finally, united with my darlings.”
All images have been provided by the author.
Nalini Ravichandran is an independent journalist who has worked with The New Indian Express and Mail Today and reported extensively on health, education, child rights, environment and socio-economic issues of the marginalised. She is an alumna of the Asian College of Journalism.
