A Ukrainian mother gives birth to her first child in an underground shelter
Over 2 million refugees have fled Ukraine in the last month and relocated to neighboring countries, where they have been welcomed with open arms and love. The entire world is watching, and people from all over the world are showing their support for Ukraine. However, many people chose to stay and defend their homes rather than flee.
Today we will talk about a Ukrainian mother who gave birth to her first child in an improvised shelter hospital. Viktoria, a 32-year-old woman, wrote to The Guardian to detail her journey.
“First we had to spend about 30 minutes in a queue to get gas. Then we were riding through Kyiv and it was empty – I’d never seen such an empty city. We heard the sound of sirens. It was scary, like a movie, but I was trying to stay positive.”
“While I was pregnant I had taken yoga classes, prepared for gentle birth-giving, took courses. It wasn’t like this.”
“For us there was a small room without any doors, only a shower curtain that separated us from the main room with 50 people in it.”
“There was no medical technology, just a gynaecological chair. I was trying to not even look over there and hoping to go back to the hospital soon.”
“Then my waters broke. My doctor looked at me and said: ‘OK, we will do it here, it’s too dangerous to wait.’ At that moment I wasn’t afraid. I trusted my doctor – the only thing on my mind was holding my son and ending the pain.”
Fedor, Viktoria’s son, was born successfully. She was able to hold him for the first time. She goes on to say:
“I was so happy when I saw my son, Fedor. With his black hair he looked like a small copy of my husband, who cut the cord. When I held Fedor he was very warm. I just felt, wow, love and pure happiness and all these mystical feelings.”
“As I held him in the bunker, I said to him: ‘You’re lucky, you’re unique, you’re born in Ukraine, you’re a new Ukrainian.’”
“Fedor has brought so much love, happiness and kindness into our home. We take care of him, and it makes us happy.”
“I’m hoping and praying for peace – he’s a new Ukrainian, he should grow up in a new Ukraine.”
Every day, we see the situation in Ukraine deteriorate – and we keep expecting that things would get better. All of the people of Ukraine, as well as those who have had to evacuate during these volatile times, have our love and support.
