It is dark in the stairs up to the maternity ward at the hospital in the city of Pokrovsk. In the windows, sandbags are stacked on top of each other. While the Ukrainian women bring life to the world here, the men are killed at the front line about 40 kilometers away. – The scariest thing is the uncertainty. Not knowing what will happen, Kateryna Buravtsova (35) told Reuters. They are far away from today’s rocket attack, towards Vinnytsia further west in the country. A total of 17 people were killed. One of the rockets struck at a maternity hospital, killing two and injuring six, according to Ukrainian authorities. Here, in the far east of the country, the tiny little baby of the 35-year-old is connected to a hose in the intensive care unit for newborns. It is her second child, and she gave birth prematurely in week 28 this time. “Yes, yes, yes,” she comforts as her son Illiusha makes a sharp sound under the soft baby blanket. – We want peace so our children do not have to see understand what is happening. We just want peace, she says. The boy baby Illiusha receives neonatal intensive care at the hospital in Pokrovsk, a city that has also been exposed to Russian rocket attacks. Photo: MARKO DJURICA / Reuters Buravtsova had pondered a lot about where the birth would take place. Should she give birth without medical personnel in a basement in her hometown of Kurakhove, near the front line? According to the doctors, the son would never have survived a birth outside the hospital. The mother puts her nose against the baby’s head and wipes away the tears. Illiusha is healthy and putting on well. As long as there is work to be had, she and her family will stay here, she says. – Everything should go well. We hope for the best. Do not we, son? The sandbags are stacked in the window. But if the hospital is hit by Russian rockets, they will not help much. Photo: MARKO DJURICA / Reuters Receiving babies under attack Before the war, there were three women’s clinics in the Donetsk region, which together with Luhansk Oblast make up the heavily industrial Donbas region. Russia attacks daily, and aims to take both of those counties east of the country. In March, Russian rockets hit the children’s hospital in Mariupol and completely destroyed it. The staff at the children’s hospital in the town of Kramatorsk have been partially or completely evacuated, according to clinic manager Ivan Tsyganok. The girl baby Vanhelia has been given a white hat on her head. Mother Elena Derdel extends a hand from the bed next to her. Photo: MARKO DJURICA / Reuters Now the maternity clinic in the city of Pokrovsk is the only one left under Ukrainian control. The hospital takes care of the 340,000 people estimated to be left in the region. The rest have fled. “Sometimes we have to accept babies during attacks,” says clinic manager Ivan Tsyganok. At the hospital, the rooms that are two walls from the outside are considered the safest. – Birth is a process that can not be stopped, he continues. Doctor and clinic manager Ivan Tsyganok (56) fears that the stress the pregnant women feel will lead to more premature births, as the hospital’s statistics already show. Photo: MARKO DJURICA / Reuters – Giving birth prematurely Women give birth earlier and earlier in pregnancy, Tsyganok tells Reuters. In 2021, 12 percent of the babies at the clinic were born before week 37 of pregnancy. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 this year, many of the women have fled with their families. Of those left, 19 out of 115 babies have been born prematurely. That’s a 16.5 percent rate, according to Tsyganok. He fears that the stress of the war will result in more premature births. – The mothers are exposed to stress over time. And especially during childbirth, women need security and peace. I can imagine that doctors and midwives are also insecure and do not convey security to the women giving birth. This means that the births do not go as smoothly as they could have done, says Ellen Blix, professor of midwifery at Oslo Met metropolitan university. Professor of midwifery, Ellen Blix, says that stress can lead to more difficult births that last longer. Stress hormones during childbirth make the contractions not work so well. Therefore, the birth can last several hours extra, the midwife says. During the war in Syria, a caesarean section was reported to complete long-term births, she says. – These women, giving birth or not, are under enormous stress. Hopefully they have female relatives who can take care of them, since the men are at the front. They must take care of the newborn and pups they already have, she says. The new mother Iryna Salamatina (36) kisses little Anton on the head. Anton was born in late June. Photo: MARKO DJURICA / Reuters A big, common concern – It is strange how well the fetuses do under extreme conditions, says midwife Monica Nerland. She has worked as a field midwife for the Red Cross in areas affected by war and natural disasters. Among other things, Nerland has helped pregnant and giving birth women on the run in Syria and on the border between Greece and Macedonia. – Women have the same concern there as women have in Norway. They wonder if the baby in the womb is well. As soon as the female refugees were confirmed that there was life, they disappeared, she says. Midwife and Red Cross delegate Monica Nerland has extensive experience in helping women during childbirth in areas affected by war and disasters. Photo: Red Cross Will give birth and flee Viktoriya Sokolovska is only 16 years old, but still about to become a first-time mother. She strokes her hand over her belly and the pink dress with butterflies on it. – It’s scary because the war continues every single day. I know the shooting on the nerves so it was best to evacuate, she says. 16-year-old Viktoriya Sokolovska has been afraid that the fear she feels will affect baby Emilia inside her stomach. Photo: MARKO DJURICA / Reuters Together with her parents, she has already fled home. They were in Lviv until the bomb alert was also heard there. Sokolovska is afraid that all the fear she feels will pass on to the child in her womb. – Unfortunately, we do not know where we are going yet. We plan to first travel closer to the Polish border, she says. – We want to give birth here and then maybe go abroad somewhere. The 16-year-old gave birth to a healthy girl named Emilia. She also came just before week 37 of the pregnancy, and was therefore premature. The updated map shows which areas of Ukraine are under Russian control. Photo: INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR AND AEI’S CRITICAL THREATS PROJECT / news (Updated 14.07.2022)
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Premature births increase in war regions in Ukraine – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
