One month ago, I was 38 weeks pregnant, full of anxiety, anger and fear. Hospital protocols were changing daily. Visitors were banned. Laboring women could only have one person with them. This isn’t what I pictured delivering my third baby would look like.
Two weeks later, my husband and I walked into labor and delivery and were handed masks. We were told to wear those any time any one entered our room. The nurses were always masked, as was the doctor. This was my third baby and the whole process was so different than the other two.
During my first two deliveries we had guests in and out while I labored and more guests after delivery. There were no masks. No scary protocols. It was a celebration and everyone was invited.
This time, it was just my husband and I. The room was quiet. No chaos of visitors. The conversations were just him and I. Just the two of us for the first time in six and a half years.
I’m just going to say it: delivering during the pandemic was a blessing in disguise.
We delivered with quiet hallways in a quiet room filled with just the three of us. We welcomed this baby with no expectations of people rushing in during skin-to-skin. We established nursing without having to wear an awkward nursing cover.
It was just us and our little guy. It was perfect.
Twenty-four hours later we returned home. Due to social distancing, there were no visitors and no school. There was no early morning school drop offs or mid-day school pick ups. There was no “panic cleaning” for visitors. There was no schedule and low expectations.
Our girls have been able to bond with their little brother all day, everyday. Having no schedule with a newborn has been dreamy. We are all sleeping, nursing, and bonding with no interruptions. There’s no pressure to get out of the house. There’s no reason to try to squeeze into pre-pregnancy clothes.
If you are a pregnant momma set to deliver during all the chaos of the world right now, rest easy. Take a deep breath. While this is probably not how you imagined your delivery, find the blessing through this mess.
Enjoy this break from real life, snuggle up with your newborn and enjoy every last minute of the newborn stage. Too soon, that teeny tiny baby won’t be teeny tiny anymore.
Thank you for writing this! Like you, I just had my second on March 21st. We were a week into our lockdown and we quickly had to adjust our plan for the postpartum period. There would be no visitors and we were in and out of the hospital within 27 hours. Our delivery room allowed me to concentrate on my midwifes careful guidance as I delivered our baby girl without the fear that we would have random visitors popping in. As I look back on this surreal experience, I am both loving that my little family is bonding, but also mourning the fact that our families have not been able to meet our final addition. It’s been an adjustment for sure, but this is part of these babies stories and I see all of them as special little rays of light during a very dark time.