A few months ago we asked different women to come to The PurposeFULL Woman and tell their story. I invited Lynsey from Real Mom Tribe, because I follow her on Instagram and she handled having a baby in a pandemic so gracefully. I knew that she would be a perfect person to come and ease your mind since, a lot of people are having babies during this pandemic. Having a baby is hard, then when you add a pandemic on top of it….. it gets even harder, because it’s so much of the unknown. Here’s what she had to say about Having a Baby During a Pandemic.
Having a Baby During a Pandemic
I had Freddie back in May, right after the pandemic started. The world was on fire, basically. I didn’t plan to have a baby during a pandemic, but the timing just kind of worked out. But, it was a lot of change and a lot of, ‘Oh crap, what do we do?’ As soon as things started coming out about the pandemic our biggest questions were: What are the restrictions on the hospitals gonna be like? And, am I even gonna have my husband there with me? That was my number one fear…..that’s what I was most scared of…. was having a baby by myself. As I am sure, that is a lot of fear for a lot of other women.
Question: Yeah, that is scary. How did your doctor ease your mind as far as the pandemic goes?
Answer: My doctor is actually awesome. Every single time I went to the doctor, he updated me on what the precautions were, what to expect and things like that. He basically, was really good at easing my mind. Making sure I knew what the precautions were and what my risks were. He put a huge emphasis on me staying healthy, wearing my mask, social distancing and quarantining….. and that in turn made it so that I ended up working from home for the last couple weeks of my pregnancy, which was nice.
Baby Showers
Question: Were you able to have baby showers or anything that you were supposed to have?
Answer: Nope. Well, I did, but I didn’t. My mom and my sister-in-law ended up hosting a zoom party for me. I registered on Amazon……Amazon is really cool because they can buy it fright rom my Amazon registry and ship it directly to you. So for those that are having to miss their baby showers, that is a great option. It was so easy to have a zoom party and Amazon shippings. And now there’s even more options that you can use, such as Facebook and maybe even Instagram.
Hospital Stay
Question: What did the process of being in the hospital look like for you? I am sure it was probably way different than seven years ago…..
Answer: Exactly. It was super different. Plus, it was a completely different hospital than I had my first baby. So not only was I trying to navigate a pandemic, but also a whole new setting for me that I wasn’t used to.Thankfully, in Utah, we were a little less strict than like New York or California at the time. And even from May till now, there’s so many different things. So what I did, to keep my anxiety calmed, I called the hospital every single week. My doctor was telling me what the precautions were, but I also called the hospital on my own and asked what the precautions were….how many people I could have with me, because I wanted my mom to be there and who could visit because, my mother-in-law wanted to come visit.
We were constantly checking the precautions and we thought that things were going to change. And luckily, they did a little bit. We were told over and over and over again, my husband was not even going to be able to be with me and that no visitors were going to be there. But luckily, at the time that I had my baby, they let my husband come stay with me. But, he was not allowed to leave the hospital. He had to stay with me the entire time. And if he left the hospital, he wasn’t allowed to come back inside.
Home With a Newborn
Question: So once you got back home with the baby, how different was that? I know that’s a loaded question…..
Answer: Actually, that was the best part. After the hospital, you don’t really want a lot of people to be around the baby, because you don’t know what they’re carrying and the baby is so brand new. So quarantining after the hospital for me was actually easy. It was a lot harder on our family and friends though, who wanted to come say “hi” and see him.
Question: I know that with us, even after having our singleton and then having our twins we were very picky of who we wanted to come over. But in some ways you need that help, that bond with other people, whether it’s your mom or your in-laws. Did that kind of get to you, too? After I had the twins I went into a little bit of depression just because so much was going on at one time. So many people were coming in-and-out and then all of a sudden, it stopped. That is when we started missing the people and the help.
Answer: Yeah, so with my first son, I got postpartum depression pretty bad. And I think that that was exactly what it was, like you were saying. I had so much help at the beginning and then it stopped all of a sudden. So this way, it was kind of like a good excuse to be like, oh sorry COVID… we can’t have anyone come visit, but we still had just enough help. And that was super nice.
Spiritual Awakenings After Having a Baby
Question: It can be hard to have a baby anyway and then you put this unknown on top of it……I think that’s just it. It’s unknown and us as women, we want to control everything, of course. It’s kind of like one of those “But God” situations, when you don’t have anything, but God. He’s the only one that can get us through this because He’s the only one that can help us. How did the pandemic and your experience effect your relationship with God?
Answer: Yes, I will be honest, this pandemic has brought me so much closer to God. Before I had my baby, I was praying: ‘please just let the hospital open up a little bit. Please let me have my husband with me.’ There’s a lot of praying and pleading and now we pray to keep us healthy. We are giving all of it to God, and praying that He takes the reins and runs with it. Actually this whole pandemic has brought me so much closer to God and my spiritual side. It’s like a whole overwhelming big bear hug from God, if that makes sense.
Taking Precautions
Question: Makes total sense! It makes you more faithful. Because whenever you have nothing else but Him, that’s it, that’s all you’ve got. And I think that’s where a lot of people are, whether you’re pregnant or not, or whether you have kids or not; right now is such an unknown. It’s just hard! Just know though, if you do have kids, or if you are going through a pregnancy right now, it’s normal. It’s all normal! So since things have “let up” a bit, have y’all allowed more people around now and getting somewhat back to normal? Whatever normal is these days!
Answer: The hardest part for me is having to go back to work. I don’t know what I’m gonna bring home as far as sickness, so that is definitely the hardest part for me,
Final Thoughts
Question: Yes and that is where faith comes in. You have to have faith that He’s gonna take care of it for you. I think right now women want to hear from somebody that has gone through it. And that, they made it out on the other side alive! Ha! What would be your biggest advice for women giving birth in a pandemic?
Answer: Reach out to others. I reached out to a couple of different friends who had babies before I did, and asked them a whole bunch of questions about their hospital experience, what they went through and what the current precautions were. I encourage you to talk to somebody about it, because it definitely helped ease my mind and made it easier when I did go to the hospital, knowing somebody who had done it and what their experience was.
Takeaways
- Ask friends and family who have gone before you how their experience was. Even though everyone is different, it could still give you some insight that could help.
- Embrace the changes, don’t fight it. It may just be a blessing in disguise.
- Give God the reins and let Him have control. We can’t fight the changes, so embrace them by praying through and trusting. He has got you!
Where to Find Lynsey
If you want to reach out to Lynsey she is in The PurposeFULL Woman Facebook Group or on Instagram. Instagram is where we actually met each other. We enjoy watching each other’s stories and she’s also doing some great things for women too. Lynsey wants to be a resource for anyone. That’s her whole outlook. She wants to help as many moms as she can. So if you have any questions at all, she is more than happy to help.
To see the rest of Lynsey’s interview you can watch the original video HERE after you join The PurposeFULL Woman Facebook Group.
