Making a Connection
Babies are the definition of a new start and happy and joyous time! We celebrate with loved ones giving hugs,cuddling, visits, food drop offs, gifts to just name a few! Giving birth during a global pandemic has a different look and feel as Covid has definitely changed our way of bringing our babies into this world. 2020 and beyond now has been a little different with limited support partners, isolation from friends and family and that underlying constant state of worry.
I was chatting with a new mom who came to me because she just couldn’t lift or feed her baby without shoulder pain. We started chatting about life, kids and everything in between when suddenly she started to look upset. I asked her one simple question, “Are you ok?”
Her response, “I’m drowning.”
I put my role as physical therapist on the back burner and we started just talking mom to mom. She was diagnosed with COVID during her pregnancy (this was 6 months later)---Baby and mom were fine at delivery, but she expressed there is always a bit of worry about the future. She was not only new to being a mom with the “normal” worries of caring for a new baby, but now she had a whole list of worries. She was also working from home, trying to keep her baby and herself safe as well as the the added worry about the constantly changing state of COVID, and NOW her shoulder pain!! When we finally looked up 45 minutes had gone by and she said “this feels like the first time I actually talked to a human other than my baby and my husband.”
It was clear she was hanging on by a thread without the personal connections we need as humans. She wasn’t feeling in control of her situation, couldn’t meet up with her friends or parents for coffee just to talk, and her normal outlet, the gym, was closed. This is what the superhuman moms who get pregnant and deliver during Covid are facing. Yikes!
Pregnant and Postpartum moms in the era of Covid are superwomen. They are balancing a constantly changing world with a constantly changing home life, body and child, limited support systems, and a social distance from friends and families. Some women thrive on this, but many don’t and need a little extra help. When you need it, here are a couple of tips to help through those days where you need a little extra connection:
Get outdoors--Fresh air and sunshine make everything better! Even if it’s snowing like it often does up here in New England--button up and breathe in !
Write it down--sometimes just taking 3 minutes to write down what we are feeling helps us make some sort of strategy or coping mechanism to help regain some of that control.
Call a friend, family member or anyone you have a connection with, even if it’s just to say “Just wanted to say Hi, but I gotta run!” Having even the shortest conversations with people perk up our mood and keep us sane as humans.
These are some simple solutions, but if that still isn’t helping you can always reach out to your OBGYN or PCP to get some resources for professionals that fit what you need! It may seem like you are alone right now, but you aren’t and no woman should feel like they have to do this journey solo!!