Natalia Timurshyna will soon become a mother. However, she does not want to leave Kyiv and go abroad without her husband and other family members. She has learned to live alternating between her apartment and the bomb shelter, and her pregnancy even gives her some extra strength. She plans to give birth in the bomb shelter, if need be.

My battle front now is to carry pregnancy to term and give birth to a child

I am in Kyiv with my husband. Our friends’ grandparents are here with us too. I am eight months pregnant. What helped me in the first days of the war was that I am quite resilient mentally, so to speak, as I worked in the news agency for 10 years.

I am accustomed to talking about some events, about various things that are not always nice and pleasant ones. Therefore, during the first week of the war, it seemed to me as if I was writing some (news) stories.

The turning point came when we moved to our friends who live near one of the maternity hospitals in Kyiv. The underground bomb shelter there was equipped with power sockets, and we could heat up the kettle and even switch on the heating. When there were no bombing alarms, we went up to the apartment. One evening we saw a bright flash – a rocket was flying past us. It was quite far, but it seemed as if it was just coming towards us! At that time, I felt that we were at the epicentre of terrible events.

I reassured myself that my baby was still in my belly. She did not see what was happening.

I was taking vitamins and even went to have the third ultrasound examination. The doctor said everything was fine! We left for Vinnytsia region for a few weeks, but then returned to Kyiv.

My battle front now is to carry pregnancy to term and give birth to a child

Now my husband and I are deciding what to do next. I do not want to go abroad without him, without any support. Neither my parents who are in Dnipropetrovsk region nor my husband’s parents in Poltava region want to leave. Besides, I am very scared of the risk to start delivering a child just on the way, since my pregnancy term is quite late. Therefore, we stay in Kyiv and keep in touch with the doctor. We are thinking about leaving after the birth of the child.

For women expecting a child, everything moves to the background now: some breathing courses, yoga and the like. The main thing for us now is to have medical staff in the maternity hospitals, and to have the opportunity to go down to the bomb shelter if necessary! If I stay in Kyiv, the maternity hospital where I plan to deliver has a bomb shelter arranged. There is even a neonatal resuscitation department.

The most amazing thing for me in this situation is how we all united! Ukrainians together as one big family! During this period, I have never come across any negative attitude. All people support each other.

We recently had to celebrate the birthday of our friends’ son in a bomb shelter. A neighbour baked a big cake for the birthday boy. We celebrated it all together – grandparents and pregnant women, our pet dogs, birthday cakes, gathering all the children in the bomb shelter. We laughed! Well, why not? We need to laugh! Life underground, life in the bomb shelters, goes on.

I believe that we will win this war. Surprisingly, my pregnancy gives me some extra strength. Our armed forces are defending our sleep, our journalists are fighting on the information front, doctors are treating patients, and my battlefront now is to carry pregnancy to term and give birth to a child. The future generation. We, women in childbirth, have this mission now. By the way, we are expecting a baby girl. We believe that the war will end soon.