Giving birth amid coronavirus emergency – no husband in delivery room, no visitors allowed, so how did mother cope? With music, yoga, and meditation

Nine days past her due date, one Hong Kong mum had no choice but to have her baby induced in hospital, and this time without her husband at her side

Doing yoga and meditating ahead of the birth, and listening to music during it, helped her stay calm – things that research shows help manage pain and stress

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Dee Cheung and her husband, Ciaran Hussey, who wasn’t allowed into the labour ward during the birth of her second child because of coronavirus emergency measures. However, music, meditation and yoga helped her have a calm labour anyway. Photo: SCMP

Published: 6:00pm, 10 Feb 2020Updated: 8:17pm, 11 Feb 2020

Dee Cheung did everything she could to prepare her mind and body for the birth of her second child last month. The 34-year-old Chinese-Canadian – who moved to Hong Kong in 2006 – practises yoga and meditation, is a fan of calming essential oils and mantra music, and keeps physically fit, regularly engaging in her passion of stand-up paddleboarding.

As founder of Float On Hong Kong – the city’s first flotation therapy centre – she is an advocate of a holistic approach to health and happiness.

But, as often happens in life, a situation arose that was out of her control.

On January 26, Cheung checked in at Hong Kong’s Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam to be induced – she was nine days past her due date – only to be told emergency measures had just been put in place that very day against the coronavirus, forcing the closure of schools, the cancellation of events and, since she gave birth, a strike by public hospital workers.

Cheung says yoga and time in a flotation tank helped her to stay calm while giving birth during a health crisis. Photo: Berton Chang Photography

Cheung says the measures implemented at that time meant no visiting hours at all in the labour or postnatal wards, and no birth partners in the delivery ward. This time her husband, Ciaran Hussey – who had been present at the 2016 birth of the couple’s first child, Mya, also at Queen Mary Hospital – would have to wait in the corridor.