Delivery in the pandemic was just like the unknown virus.
I've grown up going to the hospital for many different reasons and so it is a familiar place for me. My first memory was when I had to go in to remove my tonsils at a very young age. Two other times I went to the hospital were related to my sister having her babies. However, the majority of my hospital visits were related to my parents' health, especially my father's. As a visitor to the hospital, you simply checked in or went to the level the patient was at. Of course, no masks.
All of what I knew of the hospital before, changed. As my husband and I entered the hospital maternity entrance, we had to take our temperature on a facial scanner. I remember the hospital being eerily quiet. I'm not sure if this was because I have been use to going to the emergency side of the hospital, but I definitely did not remember the hospital being as quiet and bare as the day I arrived when my water broke.
As I arrived on the delivery floor, I noticed another check-in area where I glanced over and saw an older female waiting in a blocked off area, maybe a mother or mother-in-law. After checking in, I was sent behind the last curtain in the back area. Still eerily quiet. No one was to my right. I realized after some time laying there waiting on the on-duty delivery doctor, someone was to my left behind the curtains. As I sat there waiting on my husband, which felt like hours, I wondered if he had gotten stuck in that waiting area where I saw the older female. I remember just wishing he would be able to come and keep me company. I then heard rolling wheels, which I thought were our luggage, but it was just some cart the nurse was rolling around.
I was then taken to my delivery room after the doctor had come to check on me. I was feeling lonely and concerned about my husband not being there. While I was in the delivery room, I overheard the nurses talking about how giving birth was like The Lion King. Since no other visitors besides "the one" could come, husband's were holding the newborns up to the window while families in the parking lot were looking up to see the tiny little human. In some ways that was funny and allowed me to not be so worried. My husband was brought in after the nurse was going through paperwork and realized that maybe he was waiting in the waiting room. I felt relief and happiness pour over me as he walked in.
After several hours, I was led into the surgery room to complete an emergency caesarean. I felt a little nervous, but I prayed and knew everything would be alright because I was hopeful and I had already prepared myself for the possibility that things may not go as planned. Again, I was led away alone. Even the period of time waiting for my husband to arrive felt like hours. Luckily, they were playing some music as they were prepping for my caesarean, which helped get my mind off a bit of any worry. Throughout the entire surgery everyone had their masks on. As I reflect on this now, I wonder if this was already the norm for all physicians and nurses who were there in the delivery room. What I knew that was very different were the masks my husband and I wore the entire time we were at the hospital.
Nothing can compare to the deliveries that came before me and all the mothers who had their babies during the pandemic, and nothing can compare to future deliveries. Although it may not have been the "ideal time" to have a baby, I feel that I am a stronger woman because of it.