Pregnancy and Newborn Preparedness
I am going to try and keep this short and to the point. Many people who don’t have small people depending on them stay whenever a storm is coming, but that changes the moment we have to think about our child’s protection too.
There are many lists and posts flying around for proper hurricane kits, how much water and food, and to check your evacuation route. I want to talk about the things you may not be thinking about right now.
This is my 3rd hurri-cation season, and although I have technically not been on call for any of them yet I always take extra precautions with pending due dates with doula back ups. If your body is hanging on by a thread the barometric pressure might shift you into labor. Irma brought a 36 week baby into our community and that family had 4 doula backups. Two in Greenville and two in Charleston. All of my doula clients through October have a back up doula prepared at your North/South Carolina evacuation site. You should have received a text from me confirming this.
All prenatal clients due between now and the end of October (yes, I am being very conservative), PLEASE get your medical records in paper form tomorrow. Regardless of whether you stay or go hospital systems can go down and you want to have your documentation with you to avoid unnecessary interventions.
If you decide to stay and go into labor, EMS will not come and get you in the “eye” of the storm. It is my understanding that anyone who stays is on their own until the storm is over. When weighing your pros and cons for a potential evacuation, consider your plan for an unassisted labor/birth at home. ~ totally typed with mom tone, because I care about you!
If you are coming up on your due date and leave, take anything that may be sentimental if you go into labor out of town. Do you have a special take home outfit? Basically, I am asking you to pack your infant carseat, birth bag and postpartum bag, and bring it with you.
Newborn/ Nursing families. Fill your freezer with tiny bottles of water in all the cracks to protect any frozen breastmilk you may be leaving behind. Some people freeze their milk inside a gallon of water for extra protection, but that also means you have to defrost all that water to get it out. This may be a great move for someone with a large stash built up. Also fill a cup with water and let it freeze today. Add a coin to the top of the frozen water. When you get home check the coin. If it is still on top or near the top your food is safe. If it sunk to the bottom your food may have totally defrosted and refroze while you were gone.
Everyone, if you have food you don’t want to risk in your fridge or freezer and it is still in it’s original packaging please consider dropping off at a homeless shelter on your way out of town. They can use it before they transfer into a shelter for the storm. Last year we dropped off a Costco size pork loin and ribs in Summerville on our way to our evacuation route.
Just remember you really only need enough supplies to get to your destination. You can buy diaper, wipes, food and drinks when you get there. Save the supplies in the stores for the people who can’t leave for the storm. If staying, buy those wipes, hand sanitizer, etc just in case you run out of water.
When deciding what to pack, bring the things you need for sanity and the valuable things that cannot be replaced. This is a great time to practice un-attachment to our belongings and focus on irreplaceable photos, legal documents, those prenatal medical records and hopefully enjoy a little trip out of town to see friends or family.
I learned something cool last night. A friend was complaining on social that we are already under a state of emergency and someone smarter than me responded that part of that reason is that it protects price gouging. I thought that was some pretty valuable information. Once because there was some critical thinking to protect our bank accounts and it also tones down the level of stress to hearing we are under a state of emergency. We are still fine and we can still calmly make empowered decisions for our families.
I am still watching everything to see what my family will decide to do and what days the office may close. I will keep everyone posted asap with appointments this week.
Please let me know if you need anything. ~ Danica Todd
Clickable links to local government sites located below:
National Hurricane Center – without all the media drama
Berkeley County Government
Charleston County Emergency Management Department
Dorchester County Emergency Management Department |
