“It takes a village”, we hear this phrase all the time and under the best of circumstances that “village” is more like 1-2 key family members, if you’re lucky. With Covid, being pregnant during a pandemic has changed this journey significantly, and presented new challenges for expecting mothers especially when it comes to your support system.

As part of our “Pregnancy Through a Pandemic” maternity photo shoot, second time mom-to-be Kerri, shared her experience with pregnancy as a very busy working mom having to juggle morning sickness and caring for a toddler with no outside help from family or friends.

Kerri was so fun to work with, we asked her to do all kinds of things including showing us her fake laugh, which turned out to be the most contagious laugh that made everyone laugh even harder. She looked absolutely gorgeous in the Natural Satin Maxi and Kimono from our client closet.

KERRI’S STORY

My husband and I conceived our second child in early December. We were well into Covid and knew that this pregnancy would be different. While the scary part of Covid felt over there were still a lot of unknowns but I think like many, we felt that if we waited for this to all be over, life and the opportunity for a second would pass us by. To say that this pregnancy is different is an understatement. Symptom wise it's almost identical to the first but none of the regular experiences are the same. My husband hasn't been to any of the ultrasounds but it's never stopped him from taking me to my appointments and patiently waiting in the parking lot for me. It's the closest he can get and he'll never miss a chance to be there. My heart hurts knowing he still has yet to see video of his second daughter and he's only heard her heartbeat once. I'm so grateful that we've only heard good news from our Doctor because I can't imagine how devastating and isolating it would be to be told the worst news of your life and be all by yourself.

Trying to manage this pregnancy with a toddler and little support from family and friends has been the most difficult. I spent the first three months nauseous all the time and I can confirm that toddlers truly don't care about how close you are to barfing when they throw a tantrum. We were exhausted as a family and struggling to just manage. Despite having friends and family who wanted to support us there was little anyone could do. Like most of this past year, I'm thankful that it's only brought my husband and I closer together as we go through this battle just the two of us. You're a team and there's no other option to wake up every day but to be that team and continually be there for each other.

This time around I definitely miss talking with friends, family and coworkers about the baby the most. With my first everyone was so excited, excited to see the belly grow, wanted to know how it was all going. Now most of the day I spend working from home and am by myself. With Zoom calls you wouldn't even know I was pregnant and that excitement and energy I got from other Mom's the first time around just isn't there. It's very lonely at times and so awkward to just want to yell into the screen "look how big my belly is getting!!!" Even telling coworkers is awkward. People are afraid to bring it up, afraid to mention it. "Oh I think I heard something about you being pregnant" - insert long pause. As if they aren't sure they're supposed to know, as if it's still a secret. I'm 25 weeks and look almost 28 - THIS ISN'T A SECRET ANYMORE!! I promise you this isn't the Covid19 gain here! But above all, I miss my Mom. Through all this, no matter how tired, how horrible I feel, she's been there via FaceTime and I know it's been so hard to not jump on a plane and be here to help. I haven't seen her since March 2020. She hasn't seen my daughter in person since she was 18 months, she's now almost 3. Sometimes I cry thinking how happy I'll feel to finally see her again and just be able to have my Mom when I need her most.

To sum up pregnancy during Covid - It still feels like life is just one big groundhog day and the only thing reminding me that time is moving forward is my belly getting bigger and heavier.