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As more and more public resources are channelled into fighting the pandemic, real life as we knew it a week ago still goes on. Women get pregnant, babies are born. The word "confinement" takes on a whole new meaning.

We should all care about the nature and quality of care pregnant women can expect to get while they're expecting - and beyond. Some of the questions in my mind are:

Will there be a drastic reduction in the number and length of in-person appointments pregnant women have with their doctor, midwife or other health-care provider?

Will there still be a range of birthing options (home birth, birthing centre, hospital etc.) as indicated by the nature of the specific pregnancy and the needs and preferences of the woman and her family?

Will there be a major uptick in the incidence of postpartum depression?

And it's not just medical concerns. What about the various group activities - the Lamaze classes, LaLeche meetings, the baby yoga and gym ' n' swim and tiny tots music classes. I suppose some of it can move online but often there's no substitute for in-person, hands-on contact, especially for the very young. The power of human touch. Think of the many volunteers who work with babies, like the baby-cuddlers who hold and comfort premature babies in neonatal intensive care units and other technologically advanced but impersonal facilities. I still shudder when I think of the pictures I saw as a child, of chimps in cages with wire or cloth "mothers".

The word "confinement" conjures up visions of pregnant women being hidden away like the madwoman in the attic so that people can't tell what she's been up to (note that SHE was always the morally reprehensible one!) And of course if the woman in question happened to be young and single, she would be sent away, officially to look after her sick grandmother or other ailing elderly relative, and would maybe come back later, looking a little older, thinner and more care-worn herself.

How far have we really come over the past century? Medically, a long way. But what about our personal and societal attitudes? Early signs of the AIDS epidemic were not taken as seriously as they might have been, back in the days when it was thought to be a disease mainly limited to Africans and the LGBTQ+ community.

From the Pepsi generation to the Corona generation. Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chose?