As of March 28, 2020, Danbury Hospital now affiliated with Nuvance Health has changed their Labor and Delivery policy has changed to, “Support person must drop the patient off at the appropriate hospital entrance and wait in their vehicle while the clinical team assesses the patient. If the patient is in active labor, the support partner will be screened for COVID-19 risk factors, and only allowed to join the patient if they pass the screening. Support person can then stay with the patient during labor through discharge from hospital. If at any time the support partner exhibits symptoms of COVID-19, they will be screened again by staff, and may be required to leave the hospital. Support person must stay in the labor/delivery room at all times. If support person exits the room, they may not be permitted to return.” 

The policy is clearly very vague as we are not informed to the extent of how long it will be for an “active labor” determination or for patients to be seen and assessed. It is our understanding that hospitals right now are in desperate need of volunteers, staff are being spread extremely thin and we are all aware and afraid about the crisis at hand, but having support partners/ spouses is not only a MUST but CRUCIAL! The risk of having a woman go through any of the process alone depending solely on staff and hospital employees to relay a message to a person waiting in the vehicle will only create more work and cause more stress on a woman who has already gone through more then enough during pregnancy in its entirety. Not only do spouses/support partners provide that physical and emotional comfort they are essential because they can inform doctors and staff of any medical and health history as well as alerting someone when something is wrong as oppose to depending on staff or monitors. Labor is time sensitive and lives can be on the line, especially when carrying multiples. 

We agree that proper temperature checks, health evaluations, and masks should be worn at all times during labor and delivery and we are not disagreeing with that. The important thing here is to remember that missing any part of something that is considered to be the most beautiful thing in someone’s life - is emotionally damaging. Postpartum is also something that even before all of this was a possibility for woman, let’s not continue to add to any of it.

Support partners and spouses should be allowed in labor and delivery from the moment a pregnant woman walks into a hospital. Spouses /support partners should also be let out for baby essentials like car seats & strollers and not forced to have to make sure everything is in the room immediately because a policy prevents them from returning if they leave. 

Lets come together to make sure these mothers and babies are brought into this world surrounded by the ones who love them most. The world is going through enough, loved ones are passing, and in efforts to keep maternal mortality decreased we must agree that emotional/physical support is crucial from beginning to end of the entire labor process. Governor Cuomo is applauded right now for signing off on an executive order that NY hospitals must allow a support person with a woman in labor at all times. No woman is to labor alone. If NY can do it, so can Connecticut. On behalf of a new mom to be, expecting twins - and on behalf of the many other expecting moms and spouses we ask for you to find it within yourself Governor Lamont to make sure we keep families together during these times.