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Tell us about your experiences with pregnancy, childbirth, and/or the postpartum period during the pandemic.

<strong> I found out I was pregnant ( a surprise) in July. The appointments were different being fully masked and my husband wasn’t allowed to come along.</strong> When in September we realized this pregnancy was difficult and would be filled with specialists, that proved even more difficult by having to go it alone.<strong> My husband joined me on most appointments by speaker phone or FaceTime</strong>, but as we all know from pandemic times-<strong> it’s not the same.</strong> He missed seeing the baby on an ultrasound, I missed having him hold my hand during the amniocentesis. Then<strong> when we learned the pregnancy wasn’t viable, and covid precautions prohibit a nurse from hugging you, the specialist from holding a hand, from your husband to be by your side...it adds so much to the grief and the anger.</strong> <strong> In addition to all those difficulties- due to the pandemic no one knew.</strong> No moms at school drop off noticed my growing belly, because there was no school drop off. My daughters didn’t truly understand the situation because due to covid so much was a mystery- they couldn’t join me at appointments, etc. <strong> So much was taken from us in those 5 months of pregnancy- all our hopes and dreams</strong> that came with a new baby, <strong>and all the support and love we needed from community</strong> because our community was isolated from us.</strong> We couldn’t go to a counselor together as a family, we couldn’t go to our house of worship to pray, to mourn to grieve our child.<strong> So much of the pregnancy feels like a dream- because of the isolation surrounding it.</strong>