Some additional lifting of restrictions will take place at maternity hospitals in the coming weeks, according to a senior Health Service Executive official.
New guidance from the HSE will allow for partners to attend 12-week scans and to be present during some caesarean sections and early scans if miscarriages are suspected.
HSE Clinical Director of Women and Infants Health Dr Peter McKenna said with the move to ease restrictions further there are conflicting priorities; to keep people safe and also to keep the process of childbirth as normal as possible.
He said the conversation can mean tension between these two priorities.
Dr McKenna said if a C-section is done under general anaesthetic, there would not be much of a role for partners to support, as the woman would be asleep.
"Having an additional person there is a distraction and is not a support for the woman," he said.
When an emergency C-section is done under regional anaesthetic, and if there is time, he said there is no reason why a partner should not be allowed to attend.
"It is important to remember the guidance issued applies to partners as opposed to visitors and visiting will continue to be curtailed in maternity hospitals in an attempt to keep the footfall as small as possible."
He said it will be difficult to allow attendance of partners at routine outpatient appointments, as most outpatient departments are not designed to facilitate social distancing, adding that hospitals must have sufficient ability and discretion to respond to Covid outbreaks.
When asked about the threat of Covid in pregnancy, he said the Delta variant is "more aggressive when it comes to dealing with pregnant women".
"A few weeks ago, when we had numbers in intensive care in their teens, a disproportionate number of these were pregnant women," he said.
"So what is happening in Northern Ireland is just a manifestation of what happens when the Delta variant runs rampant in a population that is unvaccinated."
Meanwhile, Health Trusts in Northern Ireland have confirmed an increased number of Covid-19 cases among maternity patients.
Mothers call for reassurance over access
Expectant mothers have asked the HSE for ''a little bit of reassurance'' that their calls to allow greater hospital access for their partners will be considered.
Natalie Britton, from Blackrock in Dublin, is due to have a cesarean section to deliver her baby girl in less than two weeks.
"I hear the same thing every few weeks about the guidelines being updated,'' Ms Britton said. "When really absolutely nothing has moved or changed. All of us are so tired and we feel like we are not being heard."
The mother-of-one hoped her husband Robert would be present for the full birthing process.
Ms Britton has miscarried four times in the past and is anxious about being separated from her husband during the birthing process.
"Yesterday, I got my hopes up a little when I heard that they were making some changes," she said.
"I thought it might be a case of him being offered a PCR test or him being able to come sit with me in the room beforehand or walk through the door with me. But no, he'll just be allowed in once I'm having the C section," she said.
She added she feels "broken" by the tight restrictions around partner visits at hospitals.
"I am so anxious about when my husband is going to be let in [to the ward], how long he is going to be let stay for? What if something goes wrong? Am I going to have to advocate for myself?"
Ms Britton said there is a mental health impact for both the mother and the partner.
"They are locked out of the experience and there is only so much they can do when they are not carrying the baby. A big part of that is being present for he visits and being there for the good and the bad times."
