Outskirts of Milan, a month ago. Fabiola (* invented name) is in her eighth month of pregnancy, lives in a council house alone because the baby’s father is gone and the parents are far away. He has Covid, also confirmed by the swab. He is weak, he has a fever and one night he starts to have contractions, he feels it is urgent, he has to go to the hospital. He will meet his child in isolation, with a mask on his face and protective gloves, because he, surprisingly, was born negative.
We must go into the depths of our imagination to be able to see the reality that some pregnant women or mothers of newborns have lived – and still live today – in these months of pandemic.
You have to get out of your own references, from the idea of ​​a safe home, smart-working, flashing Christmas tree lights. Entering apartments that are perhaps illegally occupied, of a few square meters, and maybe other children to think about.
Intercepting the need of the most fragile women.
Fortunately, someone remembered these women, they were not afraid to knock and reach out. They are the tutors and operators of the Project By hand of Save the Children and of Lady, the Program promoted by the Cariplo Foundation in the Milan area to combat child poverty. Two social interventions already active for years that since last March have decided to work in synergy to identify expectant mothers or newborn babies who needed any kind of help and offer them support, services, assistance. “We realized that specific attention was needed on pregnant women and their children,” they say Giorgia Morera, Milanese referent of the project For Mano-QuBì di Save the Children e Marta Falanga, who works every day in the field as a tutor. “There is the idea that when a mother becomes a mother she must respond to the baby’s needs alone, regardless of his psychological and social state. And in fact women do not even legitimize themselves to ask for help, they think they have to do everything alone and have to manage their practical and emotional difficulties in silence. This is how this idea of ​​”taking them by the hand” was born, identifying the most fragile ones and offering them a telephone, physical “presence” via Whatsapp, through which to indicate the most suitable local services based on need. Because let’s face it: it is a moment to get lost in those very delicate moments that precede and follow the birth. If we do not intervene in a preventive manner, some mothers can really go into crisis ».
GIVING POSITIVITY TO COVID
The arrival of the second wave, then, did not help. Some women got sick just like Fabiola and faced childbirth sick, in isolation, losing milk because they were separated from the baby for days for specific examinations related to Covid, and maybe when they returned home they were also kept away from their respective companions, because they were negative. . Few have talked about the experience of giving birth with Covid in recent months, the loneliness of women during pregnancy checkups (where neither partner nor friend could be present anymore, sometimes also necessary to facilitate the understanding of Italian, if the mother was of foreign origin). And no one has ever underlined the regret that so many felt in living such a crucial moment in life in such an aseptic and detached way, with the sense of guilt at the idea of ​​being able to infect the child. “Projects like this are essential to prevent some situations from becoming serious and irreversible,” he adds Elena Jacobs, Head of Social Enhancement of Intesa Sanpaolo, which is one of the financing partners of the QuBì Program. “In this historical moment we immediately understood that to protect children we had to think first of all of their mothers, and not just in terms of food. Needs change, and the challenge for us is to be able to grasp them in advance, supporting those who actually work in the field, every day, to protect the little ones ».
FEARLESS
Fabiola hadn’t asked for help at first. They were the tutors of For Mano-QuBì to find it and contact it thanks to the network of reports and the monitoring of the territory. They called her, asked her what she needed and immediately activated all the resources that could be useful: midwives from the clinic and specialists to hear, health material for the baby’s first months. The thing he repeats most often today is: “I’m not alone anymore “. Having a number to call and a friendly voice available when needed have allowed her to look at life with hope and her child with the love it deserves. Without filters. Fearless.

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