Expecting
Unexpected DURING THE
Local mothers
relay their fear
and hopes
by Jessica Gregg



DIGITAL VISION/DIGITALVISION/GETTY IMAGES.

C ourtney Levin and her
husband, Andy, are the
proud parents of an
11-year-old son, whom
they assumed would be their only child.

Doctors had told them, in fact, that they
could not have more children. Imagine
their surprise when they learned they
would have a baby this year.

Now imagine what it has been like for
them to be expecting as COVID-19
continues to spread through our
community as well as around the world.

“I have several high-risk factors, so I
have appointments twice weekly at Sinai
Hospital [in Baltimore] for fetal moni-
toring. It’s been pretty stressful, I’m so
worried about delivery and exposing us to
the virus, but home birth is not an option
for us,” Levin says. “It’s my second child,
I’m 41 and a Baltimore County Public
Schools teacher, so I’m also worried about
going back to school potentially.”
It’s been rough, she admits, although
some days are better than others. She
teaches high school science through BCPS’s
e-learning program and is currently work-
ing from home with Andy, who is also a
teacher. “I have been trying to focus on setting
up the nursery and prepping for baby to
keep my mind on happier times,” she says.

“Having a high-risk pregnancy was stressful
before, but this added stress has been hard.”
By mid-March, or three-quarters of the
way through her pregnancy, Sinai Hospital
changed its visitor policy, and Levin’s son
was no longer able to attend appointments
with her. Then the policy changed again,
and no one, not even her husband, could go
to appointments.

“I was very concerned about not having
my husband there for the actual delivery,”
she says. “Luckily, they are still allowing
one visitor or support person for labor and
delivery. But I was told that could change at
any time.”
Delivery partners
For now, most Maryland hospitals are
allowing mothers to have one support
person with them during the delivery, says
Dr. Ngozi Uzogara Wexler, an obstetrician
with MedStar Montgomery Medical Center.

But, like Levin, she knows that at any time
partners could be prohibited for safety
reasons. “We’re not there yet, and we hope not to
get there,” Wexler says.

At MedStar Montgomery Medical, the
support person now must pack his or her
own to-go bag, just like the patient herself,
because once admitted, that person
cannot leave.

COVID-19 affects pregnant patients, says
Dr. Kathryn Boling, a primary care phy-
sician with Mercy Personal Physicians
at Lutherville. Physicians in China com-
pleted a few studies, and while the number
of patients in these studies is small, they
showed that symptoms for pregnant
women are not worse than for the general
population. That’s important, because pregnant
“We treat every patient with
compassion, but the underlying
assumption is that they could be a
COVID-19 patient. ”
Dr. Ngozi Uzogara Wexler
“We treat every
women are often more
patient with com-
susceptible to respira-
passion, but the
tory infections due
underlying to changes in their
assumption is
immune systems,
that they could
Boling says.

be a COVID-
“In those
19 patient,”
low num-
Wexler says.

bers, it looks
In a sim-
somewhat ilar effort to
reassuring,” decrease traffic,
she says, add-
labor and deliv-
ing that pregnant
ery staff has even
women still need to
stopped using the
be careful and follow
hospital’s phleboto-
all precautions advised by
mist, and nurses on the
their doctors, both at home
unit are drawing blood,
and at the workplace, if
Delilah Levin was born
on April 15.

she adds. The unit also
they are essential workers.

uses its own house-
Another family member,
keeper and is not sharing that staff person
for example, should do the grocery shop-
with the hospital.

ping if possible, and everything needs to be
Levin was hoping to be induced at 37
wiped down when brought into the home
weeks but adds that “at the moment, my
from the store, Boling says.

doctors are recommending we take it week
by week depending on the current
Virtual visits
situation. They want to minimize the
Mothers can expect the same level of care
amount of time we are in the hospital as
from their obstetricians, but some of that
much as possible, so it may be necessary
care may be through virtual visits, Wexler
to go either earlier or later.” (Update: Her
says. Obstetric patients are usually seen
daughter was born on April 15.)
weekly from 36 weeks until delivery, but
now those visits may alternate between
virtual and in-person.

Intrauterine transmission?
She has prescribed blood-pressure cuffs
There is very limited data on how
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