When Naomi Biar gives birth to her first child in May, she's only allowed one support person during labour - and there'll be strict limits on who can visit her and her new bundle of joy.
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Meantime Naomi and husband Biar Biar won't have the opportunity to share experiences with other expectant parents during antenatal classes - which have gone online - and there's no tour of the hospital.
Not that the Bomaderry couple is complaining. They're happy that the local health district is taking all precautions to keep them - and their community - safe.
They're thankful that during these times of strict social distancing that their antenatal class is being delivered direct to their living rooms.
"We're feeling calm," Mrs Biar said. "We're trying not to get stressed about the uncertainty around everything at this time.
"We'd decided that Biar would be my only support person anyway, though I can understand it may be upsetting for other expectant mums with other plans.
"And while we will miss out on a tour of the birthing suites and on the opportunity to connect with other couples at our antenatal classes, we knew that things would need to be done differently.
"The team delivering the class were very approachable, welcoming and obviously very knowledgeable. We felt they chose really good topics for what was a condensed version of the session."
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District midwifery educator Nadine Taylor said the collaboration between the district and eHealth NSW enabled the antenatal sessions to go ahead despite social distancing requirements.
"The weeks leading up to a baby's birth can be a stressful time, even more so during a pandemic - antenatal classes are an important tool to help expectant parents feel ready and supported for parenthood," she said. "We wanted to ensure we could continue to deliver the sessions, albeit in a different format, so we called on the support of eHealth NSW to help us run the sessions virtually.''
Twelve women and their partners from across the Illawarra and Shoalhaven joined the first group session via video link, to view demonstrations, visual resources and take part in discussion.
Ms Taylor said following the success of the first virtual session, options were being explored to deliver all classes this way and to provide childbirth education modules online.
"We are now looking at holding all our antenatal classes virtually, so that despite COVID-19, we can continue to offer the same level of support to expectant parents at this very special time of their lives," she said.
Parents scheduled to attend antenatal classes at Wollongong and Shoalhaven Hospitals in the coming months will be contacted to discuss alternative arrangements available.
The number of occasions women need to visit antenatal clinics will also be limited during the COVID crisis with appointments being conducted via telehealth and by phone where possible.
Ms Taylor confirmed that one support person was allowed during births, while partners could only visit for one hour, once a day. Children under 16, including siblings, were not able to visit.
"While we appreciate that the rules around visits are frustrating and disappointing, keeping patients, the community and staff safe is our priority. We thank families for their understanding and co-operation during this challenging time."
There remains 113 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the ISLHD, with no new cases recorded by Friday morning.
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