Out of the White Coat: Dr. Tiffany Bersani

As an OBGYN at Beaufort Memorial Obstetrics and Gynecology Specialists, Dr. Tiffany Bersani has reassured her share of anxious expectant mothers.

But it wasn’t until she was pregnant herself that she experienced firsthand the worry and concern that come with carrying a baby — or two in her case. Not only was Dr. Bersani pregnant with twins, they were due at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last April.

“I was a nervous Nellie through my entire pregnancy,” the 31-year-old Port Royal resident concedes. “I had so many things going through my mind.”

Six months after delivering a beautiful boy and girl at the Beaufort Memorial Collins Birthing Center, Dr. Bersani still frets about the health of her babies.

“My motherhood instincts have kicked in and I worry about everything,” she says. “Did the babies poop? How much did they eat? How much did they sleep? I’m on it all.”

Read More: Special Delivery

Finding Her Niche

As a child growing up in a small town in upstate New York, Dr. Bersani was always interested in science. By the time she got to high school, she had decided on a career in medicine. After graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany, she enrolled at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse with the dream of becoming either an OBGYN or pediatrician.

“In my first year of med school, I shadowed a physician and watched him deliver triplets by caesarian section,” she says. “He let me do some cutting and suturing, which made me feel like I was really involved. It cemented my decision to become an OBGYN.”

It was during her years in Syracuse that she met her husband, Michael, at an Irish pub.

“He was standing in front of where you hang your jackets and he says I knocked into him,” Dr. Bersani recalls. “I swear there wasn’t a bump, but we’ve been together ever since.”

The couple married in 2017 in the middle of her four-year residency at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Mastering Motherhood

Fresh from her medical training, she started her first job working with four other physicians and a certified nurse midwife at Beaufort Memorial Obstetrics and Gynecology Specialists. A month later she got the good news that she was pregnant.

“I took a home pregnancy test and called Mike into the bathroom to check it with me,” she says. “We both thought it was positive, but we weren’t 100 percent sure. So we went and bought four different pregnancy tests and all of them came back positive.”

Over the course of the next several months, she rotated through all of her partners for her prenatal care. Dr. Bersani had planned to work until she was ready to deliver but altered her plans when COVID-19 began spreading throughout the U.S.

“In the beginning of the pandemic, we were operating blindfolded,” she says. “We didn’t know how the disease would affect pregnancy or if it could be transmitted to the baby.”

Not wanting to take a chance of being exposed, she stepped back from the practice around the end of March.

“I wish I knew then what I know now,” Dr. Bersani says. “Today, I can tell my patients that studies have shown the overall risk of COVID-19 to pregnant women is low. But because the immune system is a little suppressed during pregnancy, there is an increased risk of getting infections. That’s why we recommend getting a flu shot.”

A day before her official due date, Dr. Bersani’s water broke, sending her into labor around 9 a.m. She pushed through her contractions for 16 hours, determined to deliver the twins vaginally. Unfortunately, her cervix wouldn’t dilate, forcing her to have a cesarean section.

“The recovery after a vaginal delivery is much quicker, so I was stubborn about it,” she says. “I finally threw in the towel at 1 a.m.”

Dr. Christopher Benson, who was on call that day, delivered Ellis at 1:16 a.m. and Eleanor four minutes later.

With only her husband allowed to enter the hospital, Dr. Bersani’s parents were left to look at their grandchildren through a hospital window. Two days after the birth, the new parents took their tiny babies home.

Read More: How COVID-19 Affects Having a Baby

“Nothing quite prepares you for caring for newborns, let alone newborn twins,” Dr. Bersani says. “The 24 hour-shifts I worked during my residency didn’t come close to the sleep deprivation I experienced feeding two babies every two hours.”

While Dr. Bersani continues to nurse her babies, she is back at work and in a more normal routine.

“I’m always tired, but it is so worth it,” she says. “This is my life now and I love it.”

Are you pregnant or hoping to expand your family? Request an appointment with Dr. Bersani or another one of our caring OBGYNs.