For 34-year-old Jane, being told she had tested positive for Covid-19 just a few days before giving birth was an experience she would never forget.
“There were some minor complications during the final trimester of my pregnancy. On 18 July, I was taken to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva but I had to wait outside with other pregnant mothers who were about to deliver,” said Jane, not her real name.
“I was swabbed while waiting my turn to go in and when the doctor returned with the results, my heart sank. I looked at him in shock when he said I had Covid-19. I thought of my children, my family. I wanted to cry but at the same time I was worried and afraid of what it meant for my baby.”
Fiji, which had been left largely unscathed in the first year of the pandemic, has been struggling to contain an outbreak of Covid-19 that began in April. Since then, the South Pacific island nation, population 900,000, has recorded more than 42,000 cases and more than 400 deaths. Two pregnant women and an 11-month-old child were among those who died last month.
On the July day she tested positive, Jane and two other pregnant women who were also diagnosed with Covid were whisked away to a separate room inside the hospital and kept in isolation without much interaction with hospital staff.
“I remember I hadn’t eaten all day and I was really hungry but we were left in there alone,” she said. “No one wanted to come near us and we understood that they too were keeping safe.
“Not long after, the two women I was in the room with went into labour at the same time but there was only one midwife. Since my contractions were still far apart, I ended up assisting the midwife and it was just an unforgettable moment.
“I delivered my baby on Thursday that week and was relieved when she tested negative for Covid-19,” Jane said, as she recounted being moved to a community hall in Toorak, within the Suva district, soon after. It was a hall that housed Covid-positive mothers who had just given birth.
“Some women came prepared with their beddings, some didn’t because they lived outside Suva. They were stuck here with nothing and no one because of the lockdowns and border closure, and this meant they did not have things they needed for baby or themselves.
“Whatever big or little things we had in that space, we shared with each other. We looked out for each other. Women with two or three kids banded together to assist new mothers. We really only had each other in there because our families could not come inside to help us.”
The mother of three said donations such as baby formula, feeding bottles, clothes and sanitary and hygienic products as well as home-cooked meals helped ease the suffering of new mothers in isolation.
“In all of this, we formed a bond with each other. During that challenging time when we braved cold nights and showers, we leaned on each other for support, not just physically but emotionally and mentally during our recovery. We comforted mothers whose babies were in the neonatal intensive care unit. Some of us cried to sleep and held on to prayers for better days ahead.”
Jane has since been reunited with her family and recently received her first jab of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, a requirement by law if she wanted to keep her job.
‘I know we can get through this’
Pregnant mother Grace Holmes Tui, 26, is expecting her second child in October and while she is wary of the current crisis, she has placed her trust in God to get through it.
“We all know the risks that are happening to pregnant mothers and it is a real scare. Like many mothers, you want a healthy baby and to have a safe delivery,” she said.
“I was really hesitant to get the jab at first but after doing some research online it gave me a little confidence to get it done.
“I was concerned about my health also because I definitely want to be around to see my children grow. I’m still hopeful for great and better days for Fiji. This is my island home and I know we can get through this.”
Last month Fiji received 150,080 doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine from the US under the Covax vaccine dose-sharing mechanism. Many pregnant women were encouraged to get this vaccine to counter the risk of severe illness and hospitalisation.
The head of Fiji’s vaccination taskforce, Dr Rachel Devi, said the vulnerability and risks of Covid-19 that came with pregnancy were all the more reason for women to get vaccinated.
“When women take the vaccine, they don’t just create antibodies for themselves,” she said. “They also transmit it to their children or their unborn child so they get that layer of protection.”
