“The women are stressed.” At least 49 attacks have targeted medical facilities in Ukraine since Russian invaded. About 200 pregnant women displaced by the war have come to the hospital in Lviv, and more than 100 have given birth.
Lilia Myronovich, who heads the natal department at another hospital, Lviv municipal maternity, said she also has seen more premature births than normal. “The women are stressed,” she said. “Especially ladies who come from other districts.”
Upstairs, expectant mother Kateryna Galmalova fled Mykolaiv, a city now occupied by Russian forces, with her husband as tanks were approaching and after three nights sleeping in the hallway amid explosions. Suddenly a siren sounded, sending patients and staff to the basement until the alert was lifted half an hour later.
She grabbed the baby clothes and little else before escaping to Lviv, where she was born and where her family has a home.