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Pregnancy and Fire Alarms

QUESTION

Dear Midwife,
So I am 7 1/2 months pregnant and was at an event at my church last weekend. While there, a little kid pulled the fire alarm and the alarms went off. The alarm was blaring from every direction. It wasn't just a "beep beep beep" alarm, it was a full blown siren going off throughout the whole church.

Because there were so many people there, it took a while to evacuate everyone out and I had to slowly cross right under one of the alarms. I've read that loud noised can startle the baby and this worried me because it was so loud, I could have gone deaf myself. Can this loud fire alarm damage my baby's ears or is the baby cushioned pretty good in there?

ANSWER

Have you ever tried to hear anything while you were under water in a swimming pool?

Yes, you might be able to hear some, but the water really cuts down on sound conduction quite a bit. Hopefully, everything will be ok, I'm guessing it is.

-- Cynthia, CNM

Cynthia Flynn

Cynthia Flynn, CNM. PhD, is the General Director of the Family Health and Birth Center which provides prenatal, birth, postnatal, gynecological and primary health care to underserved women and their families in Washington, D.C. Recently Cynthia served as Associate Professor of Nursing at Seattle University. There she not only taught, but remained in full scope clinical midwifery practice at Valley Medical Center where she cared for pregnant and birthing women, and practices well-woman gynecology, family planning, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.

Cynthia founded Columbia Women's Clinic and Birth Center, where she took care of pregnant women and infants up to two weeks of age and attended both birth center and hospital births. Before Cynthia earned her CNM, she worked as a registered nurse in labor and delivery and postpartum and is a certified Doula and Doula trainer.