Birth During a Pandemic

To all those women out there that have or will experience having a baby during COVID; THIS IS FOR YOU! When I got pregnant for the second time, not in a million years would I have predicted that I was going to birth a child during a PANDEMIC. Now in my defense, the second pregnancy was definitely not planned, but that is for another blog post.

In 2019, the infant mortality death rate was 5.9 for every 1,000 live births. For those that are interested that is a percentage of .6%. (Remember math teacher here) That may look like a small number, but when you compare it to how many births there are a year… that is roughly 22,800 infant deaths at birth. Kayla, why on earth are you sharing this? I am sharing this with you because add on the stress of knowing that you are now 8 months pregnant with a beautiful baby when the world gets hit with a deadly virus that there is no vaccine for, nor do we know where it came from, or how it affects pregnant women! Stress is not good for pregnancy. Stress is not good for people! Period. So knowing these facts and being pregnant during COVID made me fearful of labor and delivery! Keep in mind, I had already had one successful and fairly easy birth just 11 months before, but I was still scared. The rational part of your brain sometimes shuts off when your children are possibly in danger.

Now I ask this: What if you were considered high risk? Placed on bed rest? What if you had gestational diabetes, an ectopic pregnancy, preeclampsia, placental abruption, etc? This list could go on. Now imagine having any of these complications, and then being told that due to COVID-19, your significant other is no longer allowed to attend appointments with you. They may not even be allowed to be with you during your birth, procedure, or loss. (I literally could not imagine this!)

Jacob was not allowed to go to any of the appointments for the last 5 weeks of my pregnancy. We kept hearing other hospitals restricting the significant other from being present during labor. I constantly was checking with the hospital and my doctor to see if this would come to pass at Mercy Northwest. I truly did not know how I was going to go through labor without him by my side. He literally held my legs for the birth of our first baby girl! (He is a CHAMP, y’all). Thankfully, he was allowed to be with me through it all. Sadly, I cannot say the same for all mothers out there.

My heart goes out to all you mothers who had to go through the beautiful and scary process of labor by yourself. I also feel for the dads out there who missed the birth of their child!

I finish with this, Avey James was born perfectly healthy after only 15 minutes of pushing. (I am lucky, I know). Her father was with us through it all. My mother and father had Oaklynn, so I knew she was in safe and loving hands. We were given the best case scenario at a time of pure chaos. I count my blessings every day, and I think of those of you who did not have the same outcome as my family.

A note to the world: WOMEN ARE FREAKING SUPERHEROES WITH SUPER STRENGTH.