Patient gives birth at COVID-19 facility at SRP in Cebu City

CEBU, Philippines —  A COVID-19 patient at the New Oasis Normal Oasis For Adaptation and a Home (NOAH) Complex in Cebu City has given birth to a healthy baby boy at the facility Tuesday night.

The facility’s manager, Atty. Jocelyn Pesquera, said the facility will respect the mother’s privacy as a patient but she confirmed that the baby was born shortly before 9 p.m. on Tuesday and has been named Clint Noah.

 “I was so happy! Mura pud mi’g kami mga ginikanan. Our medical staff is also very happy. Naa na miy baby Noah!” Pesquera said.

(I was so happy! It was as if we were also parents. Our medical staff is also happy. We now have a baby Noah!)

She said the baby will be living proof of the bayanihan spirit shared by the local government unit and the private sector in Cebu City.

Built primarily through donations from the private sector, the NOAH complex was opened to house asymptomatic COVID-19 patients.

Pesquera said NOAH also had three pregnant women in the past but they gave birth at a hospital that could cater to their special needs.

The Noah Complex has a birthing area – the only facility in the city that has one – but it can cater only for normal delivery.  It was not part of the facility’s original design but was added later on following instances when newborns test positive for COVID-19 at hospitals.

There were also cases in Cebu City where a mother had to be separated from her newborn immediately after delivery after she was found to be positive for COVID-19.

One wing of the facility now has a labor room, delivery room, and nursery room.

Pesquera said the birthing area aims to give pregnant women at the facility, as well as their family, peace of mind, especially in the time of pandemic.

The delivery room at the Noah Complex can accommodate four patients.

So far, close to 800 COVID-19 patients, including 21 who have recovered just recently, have been sent home. Only 84 patients remain there, including baby Clint Noah’s mother.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier that mothers with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection can breastfeed as long as precautions are observed, including the wearing of mask when near the child as respiratory hygiene, washing of hands with soap and or sanitizer before and after contact with the child, and cleaning and disinfecting any surface the mother touches.

If severely ill with COVID-19, the mother can also express milk to safely provide breastmilk to infant, if not do a relactation or restarting breastfeeding after a gap, wet nursing in which another woman breastfeeding or caring for the child or using donor human milk.

“Enable mothers and infants to remain together and practice skin-to-skin contact, and rooming-in throughout the day and night, especially straight after birth during establishment of breastfeeding, whether or not the mother or child has suspected, probable, or confirmed COVID-19,” a WHO report reads.

WHO said “breastfeeding protects newborn from getting sick and also helps protect them throughout their infancy and childhood. Breastfeeding is particularly effective against infectious diseases because it strengthens the immune system by directly transferring antibodies from the mother.” — JMO (FREEMAN)