Mothers are being denied the basic right to a support person while giving birth (such as their husband for example) at hospitals all over Manitoba due to restrictions that are in place. This is cruel and needs to change! Consider signing this petition and please share! 

An open letter to the Minister of Health in Manitoba.

Hello!
Over the last month or so I’ve inquired a few times to speak to the minister of health about some questions and every time I’m forwarded to a hospital and a nurse will relay the same message to me about my questions. I’m really hoping I won’t be forwarded again and that the minister of health will hear my concerns and make some changes.

Mothers all over Manitoba are labouring and birthing their babies alone. This isn’t right. It goes against our biological nature even!! Why we are testing non-symptomatic women to determine wether they are healthy instead of going by symptoms? The CDC came out earlier last week saying the PCR test cannot distinguish wether it is covid or the flu even. Mothers are waiting 6+ hours labouring alone when hospital staffing is already low! I don’t understand why this hasn’t been changed.

I was told by one of the nurses you forwarded me to that the test can pick up a previous covid sickness in the last 3+ months after someone has recovered. Why are we trusting a test more than a persons symptoms? How do we not know that positive test was because of a previous sickness? If the test comes back positive, but the mother feels great, normal, then why are we denying husbands entry for csections? We also know asymptomatic transmission rates are very low. Why are we telling fathers and advocates they have to leave right after vaginal delivery?

I’m personally concerned for my situation. I’ve had 2 csections previously. Where I live my hospital does not offer me the option to try for a vbac unless I want to travel to the city. This is not an option for personal reasons unfortunately. During my last csection, I was not fed for 24 hours. I was begging and crying the nurses for food. The nurses finally said she would bring me something but forgot to order it before supper went out so all I was given was a turkey sandwich after having surgery and not eating for 24 hours and while breastfeeding my newborn. I was starving. I relied on my husband to bring me food that night. However, this time, if my test comes back positive, I feel unsure wether I’ll be cared for or even fed. I go into my next birth with more fears than reassurances. And I wonder, why this would happen when I would feel completely healthy normal and when we know PCR tests are unreliable.?

What about all the other mothers birthing for their first time and their birth turns into an emergency csection? They’re test came back positive. Their last sight of their husband/partner/advocate/family is fearfilled, unknowing if their baby is ok or if the mother is ok. But mother feels healthy yet still she’s forced to go through this alone?

Or the mother labouring alone, for hours, needing support but having no one because she’s waiting for her test to come back even though she feels completely healthy?

I can understand if a mother is experiencing symptoms that we should take extra precautions. I understand that. But I do not understand when we know what we do about these tests, that we are still forcing mothers in their most vulnerable time to do it alone.? Surely there can be something we can do to offer more support to birthing women during this time.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to hear a response this time.

Respectfully,
Kris H