The coronavirus pandemic has hit the entire globe really hard with about three million and counting infected people globally. Perhaps this is the biggest and baddest pandemic that has hit the world so far. This has resulted in many countries closing their borders at an unprecedented way; with many countries and territories closing land, sea and air borders to travellers. Hospitals are overwhelmed and filled to capacity with most clinics turning almost all wards to Coronavirus treating wards.
This pandemic has affected the lives of every human on this planet and more so for couples who had planned and or undergoing fertility treatments to get pregnant. The ongoing pandemic has caused international bodies and regulatory authorities of fertility services to issue guidelines instructing suspension of all fertility treatments. Understandably, this is heartbreaking for all the numerous couples who were undergoing treatment or planned to get pregnant at this time. This seems quite unfair considering that there is nothing stopping women who get pregnant spontaneously during this era of the Coronavirus pandemic. But there definitely is a genuine concern for the health of pregnant women during this pandemic.
SARS-CoV-2, the causative virus of the COVID-19 disease is a novel pathogen and there is still a lot more unknown about this virus than is already known. The real impact of the virus on pregnant women and their unborn child is still unknown. Earlier studies of COVID-19 infected pregnant women did not find any obvious negative impact on pregnancies and even the unborn child. However, a recent study published in the American Journal of Perinatology seem to suggest a possible vertical transmission of the virus from infected pregnant women to the unborn child. In this new study, the new born child of a severely ill COVID-19 pregnant women also tested positive. It must be noted that the study reports that the child was separated without contact with the mother immediately at delivery and taken to a protected room, however baby tested positive just 16 hours after delivery. This raises the question of the possibility of vertical transmission of the virus from mother to child whiles still inside the womb. Absolute caution must be taken to ensure the safety of mother and child considering that the long term effects of such a novel virus infection remains unknown.
With that said, what can you do during such a time if you were planning pregnancy? Well, considering that most countries have closed their borders you do not have the option to travel to the neighbouring country to receive treatment. These are but a few suggestions of what you can
1. Check out websites of all fertility clinics in your area and familiarise yourself with their services and success rates. At first glance, all fertility centres may look the same as offering same services but if you look carefully you will find some differences to guide your decision on which one to choose when the coronavirus situation finally calms down.
2. Contact the client services of these clinics to get a first-hand feel of what they could be offering gauging their warmth to you on phone or via email.
3. Start healthy eating if you have not been taking too much care for what goes into your mouth
4. Loose some weight. It is a scientifically proven that losing a bit of weight actually increases your chances of getting pregnant/being successful at IVF
5. Practice meditation. It may seem abstract to you, but this is proven. A calm mind calms your hormones and increases your chances of getting pregnant. I have a number of patients who got pregnant spontaneously after they took some vacation time from their stressful lives and practiced mindfulness meditations during these times
Remember to stay safe through it all
If your plans for conceiving has been particularly affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, do send us a brief message about how you have been affected.
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