What you should know about evacuating with your baby.
If you are a baby mamma, or going to be,
please prepare your emergency stockpile!!
I am going to be a mom soon.
But nobody told me anything about preparing for disasters.
I have a baby, but I have no idea how to survive and protect my baby in an emergency.
What is a good plan?
I hope somebody will help me…
You can find lots of pictures of emergency bags on the internet, but it’s hard to find info about emergency bags for moms with small babies. Survival videos and survival experts don’t often discuss babies or pregnancies. Maybe they think pregnancies and early childhood don’t last very long, and babies grow up quickly.
What do you think? Do you think these things go by quickly?
Pregnancies might seem to take a long time, if you’re in the middle of one. Do you expect smooth sailing? No natural disasters during that time? (Knock on wood.)
The majority of people are grown ups. Babies and small kids are not the ones spending money, so maybe that’s why people tend to put their concerns aside. If a major disaster strikes, the children (and their parents) will be in a terrible situation, and there can be more difficult times to follow.
I worked in a maternity unit for 8 years as a nurse, and in all that time I never taught moms how to deal with emergencies.
On top of that, I never learned how care for pregnant women and newborn babies after a disaster.
We did have fire drills in the hospital, but I didn’t learn anything about what to do after evacuation.
(Other hospitals may have focused on emergency preparedness. If so, I am sorry. This is just my experience.)
Try to imagine the moms in these pictures getting caught in a major disaster.
Do you think it is easy to evacuate?
⚠️
Pregnant women and baby moms need to know that all people will need help in an emergency. You might not be a high priority during a panic.
What pregnant women and baby moms need to know during a disaster.
1. If you are pregnant or holding a small baby, your body is not only your own body. You can not move as smoothly as when you are alone. You need extra time during an evacuation.
For example, if power outage occurs after a disaster, elevators will stop, and you’ll need to use the stairs. How hard is it to go up and down stairs with a big belly or while carrying a newborn baby? And in the dark? There are other situations we can imagine, too. In a hurricane, a flood, an earthquake… with a big belly? or a small baby? Moms must be so scared and anxious, especially if they are alone.
My grandmother always said
pregnant women should live on the ground floor to make life easier.
Some people still recommend that
pregnant women and new moms come back to their parents’ home to get help.
2. During a disaster, an emergency, or an evacuation, fetuses and newborns aren’t fully aware of what’s going on around them, but they still need care. Their requirements and development don’t stop just because the world is upside down.
Pregnant women might have urgent maternal warning signs, and they may go into labor during a disaster. How far to the nearest hospital? Is it possible to get there without an ambulance? After a major disaster, everybody will need help at the same time, and firefighters will be super busy rescuing people.
After a major disaster,
many people suddenly become victims; many people need help.
Who should get help first?
Who can set priorities correctly?
Is there even a correct priority?
People who need CPR? Or women in labor?
Babies need food and babies cry, whatever the circumstances. That’s just how it goes. Many moms might panic trying to figure out how to keep baby safe. If mom has a toddler and a newborn baby, and both of them start cry, it will be a second, smaller disaster in the midst of a major disaster.
3. It might be difficult to tell the truth to other disaster victims.
Early on in a pregnancy, many women look the same as before. It can be difficult to tell that someone is, in fact, pregnant. Especially during the first weeks of a pregnancy, expectant mothers can look just like everyone else. Because it’s not obvious, it can be difficult for pregnant women to ask for help, which in turn can create more difficulties.
Maybe somebody will ask you for help because you do not look pregnant. Can you say no?
Baby moms will also face challenges asking for more food at evacuation centers. Supplies may be limited, but moms need to eat nutritious food in order to product breast milk.
Immediately after a major disaster, who around you has baby food?
What should pregnant women and baby moms do?
It is easy to say “be prepared for emergencies and you’ll be fine,” but there are no guarantees.
Nowadays, many people tend to think childbirth and taking care of babies are normal, routine events, but we should not forget that there are medical professionals and medical equipment used much of the time for support. If major disaster strikes, this infrastructure will not work normally and may not even be available at all.
“I am pregnant” and “I have a small baby,” so “everybody will help me.” This is too easy, and not a good sentiment
Suddenly, if you are a disaster victim, you will be in the same boat with everybody else. You need to prepare, seriously, for emergencies, because your body is not only for you.
I will go into more specific details regarding your emergency stockpile for pregnant women and baby moms, next time.
Please check my next post ( # 104 ).
See you next time.
Remember, “Protect your life by yourself” （自分の命は自分で守る). You need to survive first, and then you need your emergency supply. No matter how well you prepared your emergency supplies, if you die, then all of your preparations will have been for nothing. First and foremost, keep your health up all the time. Build your stamina so that if you need to, you can evacuate as quickly as possible. Stay healthy.
