lo and vanbergen lament that their maternity leaves have been largely bereft of the company of other parents and children. lo says that friends of hers who had babies before the pandemic tell her she’s been short-changed.
“i would ask them ‘what are some of the things you would do with your baby all day? how do you fill in the time? you’re just kind of sitting with them.’ and they were like, ‘well, to be honest, we were very active. we did mommy/baby playgroups, we went out, we went shopping’ — essentially all the things that i’m not able to do at this point.”
the january stay-at-home order, she recalls, was particularly difficult, with cold weather compounding her isolation.
“it’s been a bit lonely at times. you can only speak to a newborn so much without going a bit crazy.”
the moms and babies aren’t the only ones missing out on socializing. grandparents and other extended family members have enjoyed far less physical contact, with cooing largely physically distanced, or even virtual.
“on top of being a new parent and it being a pandemic, we were very cautious,” says lo. “we limited hudson to virtually no visits for the first month and a half.”
until she retired a little over a week ago, for example, lo’s mother, bonnie, was required she go to an office once a week, and used public transportation. so when she saw hudson, she kept to door visits. “as much as she wanted to hold her grandson, she couldn’t, and wouldn’t.”