The one thing about giving birth during the covid-19 pandemic that I didn’t anticipate

My husband and I arrived at the hospital last Friday for my labor induction. Just two years ago, I gave birth in the same facility. But this time everything was different.

As an emergency physician, I’m trained to think in terms of worst-case scenarios. As an expectant mother, I had nightmares about all the things that can go wrong in pregnancy. But there was one thing about giving birth during the covid-19 pandemic that I didn’t anticipate: how I would become scared of, and also scared for, my health-care providers.