Esther N McCarthy: It’s nothing new - in times of crisis, women and children suffer
Refugees Flowers, Andreea Siret, Romanian Ukrainian Conflict Border, Hold At Neighbouring Fleeing Ukraine The Picture: Women's The Alexandru/ap/shutterstock On From In Romania International Day,
I’m trying to wrap my head around what it must be like to be a pregnant woman in Ukraine, where 80,000 mothers will give birth in the next three months.
The three times I was an expectant mother were the happiest months of my life. Having survived a 120-foot fall off a cliff when I was 22, albeit with a broken back and hip, I was warned becoming pregnant would be dangerous. Each birth needed considerable medical interventions, from surgery to neonatal care, without which, they realistically would not have survived.
Now in Ukraine, babies will be born underground as expectant mothers hide from blasts and invaders, in Metro stations and basements. I think about those women, vulnerable, terrified, adjusting to the prospect of giving birth in a war zone.
The speed of the displacement is unprecedented, this is the fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War Two. It’s nothing new, that in times of crisis, it is the women and the children who are at real risk of abuse and exploitation.
"We are living in real hell," Alena Shinkar, a mother-to-be in Kyiv, told from the cellar of a maternity hospital.
The Ukraine publication of women’s magazine Marie Claire has switched from fashion and beauty advice to providing readers with links and guides to surviving in wartime.
Their guide to giving birth reads: 'Pull out all towels, blankets, cover the place where the birth will take place. Prepare 2-3 dry warm towels for your baby when he is born, clean dishes with warm water and clean rags, sterilise scissors. If the bleeding is very heavy, the placenta is not born for more than 45 minutes, then seek immediate midwife, delivery, help!'
What help is there for them?