North West Hospital and Health Service gynaecologist Dr Elena Kreimer said each month the number of babies born averaged between 30 to 40 babies, however in April 2021 they were expecting more.

"There are a large number of women expecting babies in April," Dr Kreimer said.

"So far we think there are going to be between 40-50 babies due around this time. This is only slightly higher then what our average is, however a patient who is due in April may only be 16-18 weeks and have not come to visit us at the hospital yet for a check up.

"March and April are usually quite busy months anyway. We were also expecting that December may be busy."

Dr Kreimer said there could be a number of factors explaining why so many women were having babies.

"Maybe lockdown, working from home and spending more time at home made it happen, people not travelling overseas or spending money might decide to have a family instead and I think generalised illness makes people think about family more," she said.

Dr Kreimer said expecting mothers were not showing signs of anxiety while having a baby during a pandemic.

"Our women out here have a lot of resilience and common sense, they are not experiencing any anxiety or paranoia around COVID-19, but again we were lucky in Mount Isa that we haven't been close to an outbreak," she said.

"Because we are quite isolated and sheltered here, I don't think COVID-19 is affecting conscious decision to have or not have a family, however in more populated areas and cities it may be something that couples take into consideration."

During the thick of the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown restrictions, Dr Kreimer said there were a number of restrictions put in place at the NWHHS to keep expecting mothers safe.

"I think the biggest issue we had was when we had to restrict the number of people in the room for deliveries, everyone felt the effect of this," she said.

"At certain points only one person was allowed to be present at birth so people who planned to have more really struggled. This was probably the most emotional impact on mothers.

"After the babies were born we also had restricted visitors. Children were not allowed which caused some issues for parents of more than one child. I think people saw it as an inconvenience but was necessary at the time.

"Seeing pregnant women in outpatients through gynecology also had changes. There were restrictions on how many patients were allowed in at one time, so we had to restructure our visits and face to face time. I also conducted telehealth with remote communities around Mount Isa."

Dr Kreimer said despite restrictions and since resuming normal operations, NWHHS continued to provide the same quality of care for expecting mothers.

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