After suffering a miscarriage exactly one year prior, I finally became a mother after wanting it for years. Fast forward to bringing home our healthy baby. We are beside ourselves and excited to start our new life together as a family of three. Then BAM! The world shuts down and a pandemic happens, but now as I reflect back I realized that the pandemic was a blessing in disguise.
Being a first-time mother, I did not know what to expect, but everyone told me that we would get hot meals cooked for us, that people would come to help clean our home, and that friends and family would be lined up at our door to visit our new bundle of joy.
Besides this uncertainty, I was already facing being a first-time mother, the pandemic added additional anxiety and worry. Like how was I supposed to feed my baby when formula wasn’t on the shelves? I felt overwhelmed and exhausted because I wasn’t receiving the help that I thought I was going to have during a “normal” postpartum experience. Then add the postpartum care visits via Zoom to the mix. How was my doctor supposed to tell how I was feeling and healing over a video call? There were so many worries yet so little time to worry about them while taking care of a newborn.
Here are a few ways our family was blessed during the pandemic:
My husband was home for an extended time
He took a week off after our son was born and then returned to work for a couple of weeks only to learn he was going to be temporarily laid off. Of course, naturally, the first thing we worried about was finances and bills. After we learned that it wasn’t going to be as scary as we thought, I realized that this was a huge blessing. I was not going to be completely alone in this scary situation.
My partner, my teammate would be here with me to help take care of our baby. We were able to get into a groove with a sleep schedule. We would each take shifts. I would sleep from 8 pm-midnight and then he would sleep while I was on baby duty for the rest of the night. It helped me feel more refreshed when I was able to get a few hours of shut-eye.
I became a stay-at-home mom
This was the biggest blessing of all. I wanted to stay home and raise our son but we decided it wasn’t possible financially to only have one paycheck. After much convincing, I finally accepted that I was going to have to work. With the pandemic came the closings of daycares especially for infants and a lack of jobs. It looked like, once again, I was going to get my way, and I was so relieved that I was able to stay home and raise my son. I was able to witness his first time rolling over, his first steps, and his first words. I swear this is why we have such a strong bond because I was able to stay home with him.
My son talked earlier
This may or may not be true, but I swear that since my son was only around adults for the first year of his life he spoke earlier. He was talking in full sentences by the time he was one-and-half years old. I am convinced that it is because of his daily adult interactions. This is my story and I’m sticking to it.
Instacart and Curbside pickup was a stroke of genius
Things like Instacart and curbside pickup helped relieve my worry about getting supplies. Just knowing that I could stay in my car and have diapers brought out to me gave me relief. I could order my groceries from my phone. Then someone else shops and delivers my order to my house. WHAT? This was crazy. I still use these services now because it is a thousand percent more convenient. I am so thankful for these life-saving services.
To sum it all up, there can be good in every bad situation if you know where to look. And this is coming from Mrs. Pessimist herself. I truly believe the saying “everything happens for a reason” and having the world shut down days after my son was born tested my belief in that. It would have been a missed opportunity and filled with dread if I didn’t turn it into a blessing.
