Postpartum depression is a grave mental health problem, which is more prevalent than society realizes and poses great risk. It has been associated with lack of breastfeeding, aversion towards the baby and negative impact on the development of the child. A total of 300 women who delivered between January 14 to March 31 of 2020 at Saveetha Medical College and Hospital were chosen following ethical clearance. After explaining the aspects of the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale in their native language, the questionnaire was provided. A score of 10 and above were considered positive. Data were evaluated using SPSS and Chi square test. The prevalence of PPD was seen in 14% of women. It was higher with vaginal delivery, in women who had multiple births, lack of financial and social support, with domestic violence and alcoholic partner. Medical help was advised to women who scored 10 and above; only 5% sought medical intervention. Others did not recognize depression as a health issue. This shows the lack of awareness among the population. Medical health professionals should spread awareness, conduct more studies to evaluate the prevalence, the predisposing factors, methods for early diagnosis and ways to help women overcome “THE OTHER SIDE OF MOTHERHOOD”.

Background: Pregnant women are more susceptible to developing severe cases of COVID-19. They need to be more careful during the antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum periods to prevent untoward outcomes. As no definite treatment for COVID- 19 has yet been proven,  the only effective approach to prevent unfavorable outcome is by increasing awareness of  COVID-19 among pregnant women and by encouraging them to follow the necessary prevention methods. This study was done to know, if the adherence to the recommended preventive practices were influenced by the knowledge and attitude of the mothers and whether having a good knowledge and attitude led to better adherence to prevention methods. It also aims to assess if current knowledge on the effects of COVID-19 infection on pregnancy among antenatal women is sufficient or if more efforts have to be taken to educate the mothers regarding the same. Aims: This research aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and precautionary measures taken towards COVID-19 infection in pregnancy among antenatal women attending the outpatient clinic. Materials and Methods: It is a descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire-based study conducted in Saveetha Medical College Hospital from January 2021 to March 2021. All antenatal women attending the obstetrics outpatient clinic were included in the study. After obtaining their consent, each woman was given a semi-structured, pre-tested questionnaire to solve on the spot. The statistical analysis used were descriptive analysis, proportions, percentages, chi-square test, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: Among the 465 pregnant women included in the study, 86.02% had good knowledge of COVID-19 and its impact on pregnancy, 89.89% of women held a positive attitude towards battling the pandemic and 98.92% had good prevention practices against COVID-19 infection. There was a significant association between age and knowledge and a significant association between socioeconomic status with the knowledge, attitude, or preventive practices of the patients and between education level and attitude of the women at p<0.05. Knowledge, attitude and prevention were found to be strongly positively correlated indicating that with an increase in the knowledge there is an increase in attitude and practice of preventive measures by pregnant women. Conclusion: The women included in this study had adequate knowledge and a good attitude towards the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy and lactation. They also take necessary precautionary methods to safeguard against acquiring COVID -19 infection.

The newly identified SARS-CoV-2 virus and its ongoing implicated COVID-19 pandemic started off as pneumonia of unknown aetiology in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Certain laboratory values that may be considered deranged in non pregnant states are normal physiological changes in pregnancy. An understanding of the normal haematological and immunologic parameters in pregnancy is necessary for the interpretation of COVID-19 severity. Considering the COVID-19 infection is still new, little is known about the clinical course of the disease in pregnancy. This is a retrospective observational study undertaken in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Saveetha Medical College Hospital, Chennai, India, from April to November 2020. Out of the 50 women in the study, 19 women were anaemic with haemoglobin <11, accounting for 38% of the study population. A neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio greater than 4.5 was observed in 44% of the population. Thrombocytopenia was present in 12% of the population. D-dimer greater than 1000 was found in 12% of the study population. All of our patients were asymptomatic, had good maternal and fetal outcomes even though derangement of inflammatory markers were noted. The immunological changes of pregnancy make pregnant women more susceptible to pathogens. Though our patients had instances suggestive of critical prognosis like an increased neutrophil-lymphocyte-ratio and affirmative acute phase reactants and inflammatory markers, they were asymptomatic (category BNH) and stable in room air. However, further analysis of laboratory parameters and their correlation to clinical scenarios in the second wave of COVID19 infection is warranted.