Pregnant Women Add COVID-19 To List Of Concerns
DENVER (CBS4)- With pregnancy often comes anxiety. During the coronavirus pandemic, some pregnant women have added the COVID-19 to their list of concerns.
Sarah and Dan Galka are worried about their unborn child. On Sunday, Sarah was airlifted from Glenwood Springs to Denver and Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center. Her water broke at barely 31 weeks pregnant.
"This is the safest place for us to be to try and make sure that our little one stays inside as long as possible," Sarah told CBS4 Health Specialist Kathy Walsh.
Sarah said with their first child, Everett, everything was normal and happy for the Galkas.
This time … "It'll just be different," she said wiping away tears.
And the new coronavirus makes things more complicated.
"Yes, COVID-19 is, like, a worry," she said. "We're just really good at, like, staying really calm."
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But some pregnant women are scared.
"I think everybody is fearful, pregnant or otherwise, but they're especially so," said Obstetrician Dr. Richard Porreco, Director of Maternal Fetal Medicine at PSL.
He said a small study by Chinese scientists is somewhat reassuring.
"There doesn't appear to be any vertical transmission during the pregnancy or the birth," said Porreco.
But Porreco explained that pregnant women, in general, are considered higher risk.
"We think they need to do the same thing everybody else does," he said.
Dan Galka is a pediatrician.
"I don't worry about Sarah and coronavirus, the baby and coronavirus," he explained. "I'm more worried about grandparents. I'm more worried about aunts and uncles."
Now, the Galkas are concentrating on baby number two.
They are disappointed hospital rules during the pandemic will limit them to one visitor at a time and Sarah cries when she thinks about being away from their home. She won't have her mother with her and she won't be able to see 2-year-old Everett for weeks.
"You've just got to roll with the punches," said Dan.
