UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital: Caring for You During COVID-19

Women opting for an epidural during labor and delivery are not required to be tested for COVID-19, nor are women scheduling c-sections. Moms who are scheduling inductions may be offered testing prior to their procedures, but are not required to have the testing done.

As of the week of June 1, 2020, all UPMC in-hospital and freestanding outpatient settings are permitting two designated support people for adult patients. Support persons are selected by the patient and must be 18 years of age or older. For their safety, no children are permitted at this time.

You do not have to wear a mask while giving birth. However, the support person should be masked when in public areas and when staff are in the patient’s room. Support persons are not expected to sleep in their mask. Support persons can bring and wear their own, or the hospital will provide masks to them.

While we are encouraging decreased in and out activity, your support person is allowed to leave the hospital and re-enter. The person will need to be rescreened upon each re-entry.

For the safety of our patients and staff, our newborn photography services are still suspended at this time. Our leadership is re-evaluating visitation guidelines constantly and we plan to reopen this service as soon as it is safe to do so.

You are allowed one primary and one alternate support person for your entire inpatient stay, and your doula can be your additional support person. Two support people are allowed in the hospital at a time.

Support persons must wear facemasks in the hospital. Facemasks can only be removed while eating.

Each baby may have two support persons for the entire stay, such as a parent or guardian. Support persons in the Level III NICU and Level II Nursery/NICU must wear a facemask inside the unit. Facemasks may only be removed while eating.

• While the initial clinical trials for these vaccines did not include pregnant or breastfeeding women, ongoing studies have not shown that the vaccines cause any harm to pregnant women or their unborn babies, and there is no reason to believe they will cause harm.
• As of September 2021, more than 31% of pregnant women across the United States have chosen to receive the vaccines, and among a subset of these women that have enrolled in a pregnancy outcomes registry, there was no increased likelihood of miscarriage, low birth weight, or other complications.
• It is important to know, the vaccines are much less of a risk to you and your baby than the COVID-19 virus.

• Not everyone experiences side effects, but if you do, it is a sign that the vaccine is working. The most common ones with the current vaccines are soreness at the injection site, fatigue, headache, fever, and body, muscle, or joint aches. These should go away within a few days.
• There is no evidence that these side effects have any impact on your unborn baby.
• Talk to your doctor about taking acetaminophen if you develop a fever or other vaccine-related side effects.

• There is no reason to believe receiving the vaccine during a certain trimester of pregnancy makes it any more or less safe.
• With some of the available vaccines requiring 2 shots, starting the process as soon as possible will protect you for a greater portion of your pregnancy.

• There is no reason to believe that the vaccines should cause harm due to breastfeeding.
• The vaccine is given in your arm, where your body finds the “spike protein” made by the vaccine and creates an antibody response that trains your immune system to fight the virus if it enters your body in the future.
• Because the vaccine is not something you are eating or drinking, it will not pass through your breast milk.
• As your body creates antibodies, some may be found in breast milk. There is no reason for concern as it may help boost your baby’s immunity to the virus. Current studies are ongoing to learn more.