The war in Ukraine is changing cities, destroying infrastructure, turning schools into shelters and hospitals into targets. However, there is one area where the presence of war is particularly at odds with nature itself — maternity homes. Places where people do not die, but are born, where life is just beginning.
On July 11, around six in the morning, during the attack of Kharkiv by Russian drones, a maternity hospital in Saltivsky district was damaged. The Russian attack hit the building that housed women after giving birth and their children. By information Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, three women in labor and three babies were injured. Two of them were born just a day before, and the third boy was born on July 8. All of them were diagnosed with an acute stress reaction. The mother and baby had to be evacuated to another medical facility.
In a peaceful country, a baby is always born in silence. Around him are sterile walls, an established regime, the first cry, the first breath. Mother and doctors are nearby, the bed is clean, peace is guaranteed. This was not the case in Kharkiv this morning. When the children and their mothers were sleeping, and the medical staff was on duty in the corridor, there was an explosion, followed by the shattering of window glass, beds strewn with shrapnel, and screams. Mothers with children in their arms hid under their beds in panic, others tried to get out of the room on their own.
An acute stress reaction in an infant is not only stress, but also a significant physiological shift. A newborn has not yet formed the full-fledged work of the cerebral cortex, self-soothing mechanisms have not yet been developed. In the case of a strong sound impact, such as an explosion, the child’s heart rate increases sharply, breathing becomes jerky, and muscles spasm.
For a child, the first hours after birth are a period of adaptation, his nervous system is just beginning to get used to new conditions. If an explosion occurs at this moment, she experiences it as a threat at the level of all systems – cardiovascular, respiratory, hormonal. And if an adult can understand that it is an explosion and react somehow, a child cannot. She just screams and is in a state of overload.
The children who were in the maternity hospital during the attack still have no memory in the usual sense. But, according to psychiatrists, even at such an early stage, the brain detects threats. Sound, vibration, trembling of the mother’s body, her heartbeat, muscle tension – all this can affect the psycho-emotional development of the child in the future.
“We are dealing with intense stress at the time of formation of the primary security system. Even if the child does not remember anything consciously, his nervous system is already in a state of heightened excitement. This can lead to problems with sleeping, feeding and communication. We have seen such cases before — after similar situations in 2022.” – say neonatologists.
The mother is no less vulnerable. In the first days after childbirth, the female body is exhausted, the psyche is sensitive, the hormonal background is unstable. According to doctors, women who have survived such explosions with their children often have long-term postpartum anxiety, sleep disorders, and difficulties with lactation. As a result, psychological trauma can be fixed for years – both in the mother and in the child.
The medical staff of the maternity ward worked until the end. Even after the attack, doctors and nurses helped women carry their children, unfolded portable beds, and evacuated documents. Some of the women in labor who could not yet walk on their own were carried out.
Obstetricians working in Kharkiv admit that the usual protocols have not worked for a long time. Medical teams are ready for evacuation at any moment. Rooms are prepared in the basements where you can give birth if necessary, but this is not the norm. Childbirth in such conditions is a test for the body, psyche and health care structure.
Babies in Kharkiv have just been born, but they have already found themselves under shelling, evacuation and a medical diagnosis related to stress. They have not yet had time to go through the adaptation period after childbirth, but have already been affected by the blast wave. What under normal conditions is a period of calm entry into life, for them began with a violation of basic security.
