NJ mom gives birth in home bathtub amid COVID-19 hospital rules

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP — A pair of parents wound up going through a bathtub birth at home for their fourth child, amid concern about being separated at Virtua Voorhees Hospital under COVID-19 based restrictions.

Erin Persia tagged her husband, Steve Persia, in an April 3 update on her personal Facebook page: “So we did a thing today, in our bath tub, just the two of us!”

Persia also shared photos of the newborn girl, named Amelia Gracelyn. The baby weighed 9 pounds, 6 ounces and was 20 inches long just after birth, Persia also shared.

She added everyone in the family was doing well as of Monday, at their home in the Blackwood section of the townshop.

Virtua Voorhees Hospital currently has a one visitor policy in place for labor and delivery, meaning one person may accompany a woman for the duration of the hospital stay - no swapping places with another individual.

Under the policy, the visitor may be asked to wait outside the facility during the laboring woman's initial assessment, "but then would be invited inside at the time the laboring woman is admitted to the hospital," according to a hospital spokesman.

He added, "We are looking to be a little more explicit with our wording to avoid any confusion in the future."

6ABC Action News reported that Persia said she was told at the triage unit that her "husband had to wait in the car" and, she thought, stay there during the entire process. Persia told a 6ABC reporter that she then thought the contractions had stopped, so she left and went home, where Amelia was later born.

Persia said on Facebook that their neighbor and her own parents also provided support during and directly after the home birth.