September 16, 2021
Trusted Voices: I Was Hesitant
By Nicole Lyons, MD
CentraCare general surgeon, Dr. Nicole Lyons’s pregnancy coincided with some of the pandemic’s most tumultuous months. Today, her answer to every expectant parent’s wish has a name: Cecelia.
Back when PPE was in short supply and little was known about how the disease was transmitted, it was a stressful time in our house. My husband, Dr. Jack Lyons, is one of the intensivists here at CentraCare. He was seeing people all day, every day with COVID. And I’m a surgeon, so there is intubation beforehand with patients, which presents increased risk to potential COVID exposure. We had a lot of questions but ultimately, we felt really privileged to be able to keep coming to work every day to help people.
Then we would go home at night to our two daughters.
The Vaccine
When the vaccine came out, it was a huge relief for us. I had a lot more trepidation about it, though, because of being pregnant at the time. In January, when the vaccines became more available, I was in my second trimester.
My baby wasn’t due for months. Too long for me to wait and still feel like I was doing my part to protect myself and the community by getting the vaccine. But it was still early enough that I felt the weight of it. Every time I am pregnant, I’m conscious of everything I put into my body; everything I eat, everything I breathe, everything I interact with. It’s not just affecting me. It all affects this tiny human growing inside me. So, I take it really seriously. I don’t even take Tylenol and that’s totally safe to take when you’re pregnant!
I don’t even take Tylenol and that’s totally safe to take when you’re pregnant!
My husband and I basically didn’t talk about it because he didn’t understand why I wouldn’t just jump at the opportunity to get vaccinated. He would have been first in line which is why he had a hard time understanding the reservations I felt about it. That’s fair because my reservations were fairly unfounded, but you can’t necessarily help the more emotional feeling of, “I have to do everything to protect this tiny baby,” despite understanding the science.
Safe Science
When the vaccine first became available, the only data about pregnant people came from the women who had gotten vaccinated during the vaccine trials but didn’t know they were pregnant. (Pregnant people were excluded from the vaccine trials.) But they had all done well. There were no major adverse events. Meanwhile, most OB groups were recommending the vaccine during pregnancy because of the severity of COVID that they were seeing in pregnant patients. You’re immunocompromised while pregnant so that makes sense.
And it took me awhile, but once I did get vaccinated, I felt so much better.
So, I was really scared and I was really cautious. And it took me awhile, but once I did get vaccinated, I felt so much better. I didn’t realize the weight I was feeling. I knew it was the right thing to do and everything went well. I didn’t feel well for a day, but after that I felt much better and much safer going to work and coming home to my daughters.
Now we have better data to suggest that babies are somewhat protected by their mother if she receives a COVID vaccination while pregnant. For me that’s great because Cecelia goes to daycare while we’re both working. So the fact that she’s at least partially protected is really nice too.
See studies about pregnancy and the vaccine:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/pregnancy.html,
https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.smfm.org/media/3044/Press_Release_with_ACOG.pdf
Preliminary Findings of mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine Safety in Pregnant Persons | NEJM
Thank you for sharing. “I didn’t realize the weight I was feeling.” really resonated with me.
Thank you so much for sharing, Nicole – this is beautiful! As a pediatrician, I understand that feeling of wanting/needing to protect our young patients as much as possible. I love those pictures of you with your adorable children! I do know of several other physicians and APPs in our organization who made the same choice you did – after reviewing all the literature and deliberating with their family members. They, too, are so grateful that their young infants now have some protection against Covid.
Nicole, thanks for being open on something so personal. At the beginning, I was selfishly grateful that my days of pregnancy were behind me. If I was still child bearing when the vaccines became available, I expect my journey would have been similar to yours. Hesitancy is entirely understandable. It is important to acknowledge we are all vulnerable to fear and the responsibility of being a pregnant mother adds an extraordinary dimension to vaccine decisions. I’m happy that you were able to make your decision with peace. Congratulations to you and Jack on the arrival of Cecelia!
Thanks Nicole for sharing your story and for all you and your husband do for our patients. I am sure many other women have had similar reservations that you experienced.