When the COVID-19 pandemic started getting more serious and states started locking things down I kept looking at my due date: April 7. The rules were changing daily. Who was going to be allowed in the delivery room? Could I have at least one visitor? Is my mom going to be there with me in addition to my husband?
I live in Springfield, MO and we had not been hit as hard other major cities, but our hospital rules at the time of my delivery (March 31) was only allowing one support person to be there with me. My husband joined me for my scheduled induction. I am a first-time mom, so I do not have any other delivery experience to compare to, but having a baby with no visitors was hard. After delivering the baby we were in our own room.
It was so quiet, both in our room and in the rooms around us. We were looking forward to all of the family coming to meet the baby while in the hospital, but we didn’t get that experience. People tried to send us flowers, but they could not be sent into the hospital. When we walked the halls in the hospital the only people we saw were the nurses. All of the doors were closed, and it was eerily quiet.
The different experience we got was to bond with just our baby, a full two days spent getting to learn our new baby with no distractions. I didn’t have to hide under a nursing cover. I didn’t care what I looked like. I didn’t even care that I had no sleep. We used Facetime to show off our new baby to our parents and close friends.
Once we were home, we still were very cautious. The only people we allowed to come into our home and see our baby were our parents and siblings that had self-quarantined for two full weeks prior to our baby arriving. Several people that wanted to meet our newborn baby did not get that chance. We have to be safe. We have to be extra cautious.
Having a baby during Covid-19 has been interesting, but it has given us all of the time to really get to know our baby. We haven’t gone anywhere or had many visitors. Our baby may have a hard time leaving us when she is older, but right now we are enjoying all our precious time with just her.
