Doctors are worried about the virus because most pregnant women are not vaccinated.Lifestyle

Atlanta-Kindal Nippers started the morning with peace of mind.

For a 29-year-old 8-month-pregnant person from Columbus, the seizures with COVID-19 are over, low-grade fever, malaise, taste and smell. She resumed her normal routine and felt better than a few days.

But when the morning changed to the afternoon, she noticed that her baby wasn’t moving as usual. Maybe not at all. She ate snacks and drank caffeinated drinks to stimulate her movements. There is nothing yet.

With great care, she headed to Piemont Columbus Regional Hospital. There her husbands Thomas and Dr. Timothy Billgas later joined her. A series of tests revealed unthinkable: the baby died.

The nippers were devastated and full of questions.

“I couldn’t believe it was happening,” said Kyndal Nipper. “It was very painful, but there are still moments like that. Is this a dream or a real life?”

That July day was the first time one of Birgas’s patients had a virus-induced stillbirth during a pandemic. But before the end of the month, OB-GYN experts learned of two other similar late cases from a Columbus doctor. He said he had spoken to colleagues across the country who saw the rise in such cases.

An analysis of COVID-19 and 2021 pregnancies “is surprising if there is no statistically significant increase in stillbirth,” said Villegas.

This is already certain. More pregnant women are infected with the virus due to the proliferation of cases caused by the delta variant. This is because they are rarely vaccinated.

On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an urgent health recommendation to encourage more pregnant women to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for themselves and their babies. The agency’s recommendations reflect advice from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. But so far it has been a tough sale. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 31% of pregnant women are fully vaccinated, but 64% of the age-appropriate population.

Pregnant women were excluded from the initial clinical trial and were hesitant early on due to lack of data on the effects of the vaccine on pregnancy. And while a CDC study of more than 35,000 pregnant women later found no evidence that vaccination increased the risk of miscarriage and other complications, most women still resisted firing. I am.

OB-GYN is also working to combat false information on social media, such as the myth that vaccines can lead women to infertility or infertility.

Nippers were not vaccinated because they were worried about potential harm to their baby. Her plan was to wait until after giving birth. She and her family took other precautions to avoid the virus, she said.

Nipper said he had easily encountered a person who was infected with the virus but was asymptomatic.

Shortly thereafter, she was diagnosed with COVID-19, but she didn’t feel so sick so she didn’t panic. “What I didn’t realize was that COVID was attacking me from the inside,” she said.

According to Birgas, the virus inflamed the nippers’ placenta and eventually blocked the fetal Jack’s blood, oxygen, and nutrients.

As of September 13, there were at least 266 pregnancy losses in COVID-19 patients nationwide, according to the CDC.

Dr. Stephanie Grogan, OB-GYN Chief of Atlanta’s Northside Hospital, who gave birth to more babies than any other facility in the country last year, she believes has “very realistic potential.” He said he was. To COVID-19 by the end of the year.

There is increasing evidence that the virus can damage the placenta and nourish the foetation, as in the case of nippers.

The Georgia Public Health Service has not released data on stillbirths recorded for coronavirus-positive women. A spokeswoman said the department is still analyzing and reviewing the information.

Meanwhile, Mississippi health officials recently said 72 stillbirths have been seen among unvaccinated COVID-19 pregnant women since the pandemic began. Mississippi health officer Thomas Dobbs said at a news conference that this was twice the rate normally expected.

And recently, the Louisiana Department of Health reported a “increased vigilance” of serious COVID-19 illness and death in pregnant women since mid-July, citing the case of 14 unvaccinated mothers. .. Six women and ten babies have died.

A doctor at Phoebe Putney Health System in Albany said he is treating a surprising number of pregnant women who are very ill with COVID-19. This meant that they had to make more emergency caesarean sections and, in some cases, had to give birth to their baby prematurely.

“If your baby is 39 weeks old, that’s not a difficult decision. Your baby is ready to be born,” said Dr. William Seawell, director of health care for women and children at Phoebe Putney. “But when a baby enters a situation where it is 26 or 28 weeks old, it is 3 months preterm birth, and those decisions can be very difficult.”

For a few women, “things can be tragic,” he said. “The happiest time of your life turned out to be one of the worst or the worst.”

The foetation is not the only one at risk. So is my mother.

According to the CDC, more than 125,000 pregnant women in the United States test positive for the coronavirus at some point during the pandemic. Sewell emphasized that most pregnant women with COVID-19 have mild or no symptoms.

Approximately 22,000 pregnant women with COVID-19 were hospitalized, but CDC data do not show the number of hospitalizations due to pregnancy-related problems and the number of hospitalizations due to viral complications. Federal agencies also do not classify findings by state.

Even in the best of circumstances, pregnancy can strain a woman’s body, Sewell said. However, adding COVID-19 can make it difficult for the mother and the child in the womb to get enough oxygen, which can endanger both lives, he said.

Nationwide, 161 pregnant women with COVID-19 have died. The CDC said 22 of these deaths occurred in August.

According to the State Department, four pregnant women with COVID-19 died during a pandemic in Georgia. Three more women gave birth during hospitalization with COVID-19 and subsequently died. Three more deaths that may involve pregnant women are being considered.

Pregnancy can make women more vulnerable to infections and serious illnesses for several reasons. The immune system is suppressed during pregnancy. This is a reaction designed to prevent side effects on the fetus, but it increases the susceptibility of the mother to infections.

Other physical changes also occur. The lungs can be affected by dilation of the uterus, and the cardiovascular system must work harder. COVID-19 can also increase the risk of blood clots.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center are six times more likely to be COVID-19-positive mothers in studies conducted before the vaccine became widely available and before the more aggressive delta variants became established. I found it expensive. It is an intensive care unit and is 14 times more likely to be intubated than pregnant women who did not carry the virus.

Delta mutants are more dangerous to pregnant women than previous versions of the coronavirus, and there is growing concern among doctors that mutations in the strain can allow the virus to enter cells faster.

At Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Grogan said that about 98% of COVID-19-positive pregnant women who eventually enter the ICU are unvaccinated.

In some cases, they are so ill that they cannot interact with them after giving birth to a baby. “Because my mother is in the hospital, I don’t spend these precious hours, days, or even weeks with my newborn baby. The bond time is very important,” says Grogan. “Some babies had to go home with other families. It’s hard for the whole family. And in my heart I feel this can be prevented with a vaccine.”

During the past surge, pregnant women with COVID-19 rarely entered the ICU, said Sewell of Phoebe Putney. Today, “it’s not that unusual,” he said.

At the Columbus hospital, Nipper and her husband vowed to do whatever they could to recommend vaccination to pregnant women.

“Everyone can choose what to do, but not unless they know what’s going on,” said Nipper, who has a three-year-old daughter, Breakley. “One thing is to tell people that the world is very divided …. this is not about politics, it’s about personal.”

“I’m not trying to convince people who are really against the vaccine to get the vaccine, but I think the vaccinated people are doing everything they can to protect themselves. If you can rest assured, it’s worth it to us if it has the potential to save someone else’s baby. “

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(Database specialist Jennifer Peebles and staff writer Tamar Hallerman contributed to this article.)

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