My Experience of Being a Doula During COVID-19: Part 1
Chapter One
On Thursday, March 12 I supported a client at Riverview Medical Center and as I was about to leave a nurse stopped me.
“Doulas aren’t going to be allowed at the hospital any more. Dad may not be allowed to be here.”
I was shocked and surprised. Dads may not be allowed at the hospital? I had been supporting my client for a little over 24 hours and the world seemed to have flipped on its head in that time. I hadn’t seen the news or checked my phone. I hadn’t spoken to anyone. The hospital suddenly felt empty and dark, and when I got out to the parking lot even the fresh air seemed foreign.
Four days later, I did my first ever Zoom meeting; a postpartum visit with my client and even though I was nervous because I am a technology skeptic, I was surprised how connected I felt to the family and how beneficial the meeting was. I had not taken any April clients so I confidently told all of my May, June, July, August clients that their hospitals would most likely be back to normal protocol by their due date. Little did I know. Little did any of us know.
Then Zoom took over my life. Not really, but kind of. Suddenly all my Childbirth Education Classes, Prenatal Meetings, Postpartum Meetings, and interviews were being done through zoom. I moved my sons into the same room because I suddenly needed an office. I adjusted the lighting in the room for better video quality, I quickly realized I could wear fancy shirts and PJ’s during zoom meetings, I spent evenings reading the latest research on COVID and pregnancy, COVID and breastmilk and emailing these articles to my moms. I answered the phone to anxious couples who had read horror stories about Moms in NYC hospitals. I tried to keep my own worries and fears at bay.
Then at the end of April my sister called me.
“Do you know a doula who would be willing to go to the hospital next week?” I was quiet. I had barely left my house . I hadn’t been to the grocery store or seen anyone besides my husband and kids in over a month. I checked in with my intuition and replied “Maybe me. Why?” And she quickly explained that she knew someone whose friend was getting induced next week and whose husband could not go because of preexisting health issues and she didn’t have anyone to go with her.
So at midnight on Monday May 4th I met Katy for the first time in the parking lot of Monmouth Medical Center and together we walked into the COVID tent to get screened. I was scared: What if I have a fever? What will it be like to wear a mask for so long? Am I putting my kids’ life at risk for supporting this mom? We both passed screening and someone walked us up to L+D. And then there I was doing what I love most. Absolutely what I love most: doulaing. And I had the incredible experience of supporting a mom as she birth her baby during a pandemic. I got to witness that the magic of birth does not care about our pandemics, that babies come as they come and that moms and babies need the support they need no matter what the climate of the world is. I Facetimed dad as mom was pushing and suddenly the hospital birth felt strangely like a home birth as the older sister watched her baby sister being born.
To be continued….
(There’s more. So so much more. Including supporting a mom for 10 hours virtually through zoom!)
