Childbirth in the age of coronavirus is one characterized by the careful balance of joy and fear. Mothers in labor must undergo testing so that they could be assigned to a regular or COVID-19 positive maternity ward. Their babies are birthed into a world where everyone in the delivery room is shielded with masks and their childhoods expected to be strikingly different from that of their parents. 

Expectant mothers know that, even if they get sick, there is little evidence of transmission from mother to fetus. Dr. Michael Paidas, professor and chair of University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s OB/GYN and reproductive science department, has been on the front lines delivering babies at Jackson where a labor floor has been reconfigured with negative pressure rooms for patients who test positive.

“There has not been a definitive case of vertical maternal-fetal transmission,” he said. “We had one seriously sick patient in ICU, but she and the baby came out of it safely.”