With Delivery Rooms Restricted, Expectant Moms Turn To Virtual Support

Monique Cowan, a doula from Hawaiian Gardens, showed up at L.A. County-USC Medical Center in mid-March expecting to help her client navigate a preterm birth.

Instead she ended up phoning into the delivery room from the lobby outside the hospital pharmacy.

Delivering doula services remotely is just one way the coronavirus pandemic is changing the process of birth. Many hospitals are limiting delivery rooms to one support person, often the birth mother’s partner.

Doulas like Cowan have had to become accustomed to coaching their clients from home, using video chats to show apprehensive husbands how to massage their laboring wives and explaining birth procedures.

She works primarily with expecting African American mothers and babies who are at a disproportionately high risk for serious injury or death related to pregnancy. Coronavirus is complicating her clients’ existing concerns.

“The worry for me with them is that their fear and their anxiety will have them isolate themselves more postpartum,” Cowan said. “You need people.”

READ THE FULL STORY:

• Giving Birth In A Pandemic Can Be Isolating. It Doesn’t Have To Be

READ MORE:

• America's Black Babies Are Paying For Society's Ills. What Will We Do To Fix It?
• What Do Doulas Do — And How Can I Find One In LA?
• If LA's Kids Keep Skipping Routine Vaccinations, We Might Have More Than A COVID-19 Outbreak To Worry About

Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter. To support our nonprofit public service journalism: Donate now.