Items

• 
  2022-04

  Pregnant Mothers Can Get Safely Vaccinated

  The American Samoa Department of Health released this flyer for pregnant women that can get vaccinated safely. This is a piece of great information for the public, especially for pregnant women who are wondering if they can get the vaccine.
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  2022-04-14

  COVID-19 Vaccines May Protect Your Baby

  This is an Instagram post by asianyouthcenterorg. This post is giving information on vaccinations and pregnancy. It says that Pfizer and Moderna are the most recommended vaccines for expecting mothers.
• 
  2021-07-15

  Dr. Marissa Rhodes, Oral History, July 15, 2021

  Curator for the JOPTY program, Angelica S Ramos interviews mother of three, Dr. Marissa Rhodes. In this interview she discusses her role as a professor and how COVID-19 halted all the plans she had for her classes. She also discusses her pregnancy with her third baby and the struggles that came with prenatal care and birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Rhodes also relates her birthing experience and how different the pandemic made it from her first two pregnancies; she discusses the complications that she faced and the stresses she dealt with. Dr. Rhodes also discusses how her social life was impacted and the struggle to find a balance between work, children, virtual-learning and a new baby. Lastly, she reflects on her personal silver lining and the lessons that she hopes will be learned from this experience.
• 
  2021-04-08

  How does the pandemic affect children?

  This article speaks about birth rate spikes around the world during the pandemic. The chart provided shows birth increases. Many families are now welcoming children after 5-6 years. This is described as the next baby boom. The correlation this has with my research topic involves the idea that increased birthrates, and their effects on children at home along with the development of these children as they are born in the middle of the pandemic.
• 
  03/14/2021

  Michael Levesque Oral History, 2021/03/14

  Michael Levesque was a paramedic working on an ambulance at the start of the pandemic. He had a pregnant wife at home and was in the process of switching his career into nursing. He recalls the memories of working on the ambulance and taking care of Covid patients, as well as how Covid impacted the EMS services overall. He also discusses how it felt to be starting his career as an Emergency Room nurse during a global pandemic. In both cases, his job put him directly on the front lines of medicine. He discusses the early problems of lack of knowledge and equipment to properly handle this pandemic. He also explains the mindset of an expecting father, working in a high risk environment, and then coming home to his pregnant wife. Michael’s unique life circumstances and career path gives his interview a perspective that few people experienced.
• 
  2021-02-02

  Holding her Baby for the First Time

  As a mother of two, two thoughts have plagued the darkest corners of my mind for the past ten months: “I can’t let anything happen to the kids” and “what would happen if something happened to me?” The thoughts terrify me so much I can’t even say them aloud. So, to read about pregnant women trying to safely bring life into the world amidst the pandemic is an unbearable thought. The thought of being pregnant right now is truly terrifying, so this article struck a deep chord when I read it. A woman at the very end of her pregnancy contracted Covid-19, gave birth while unconscious, and then spent 75 days on oxygen and a ventilator. Her baby was born November 4, and just this past week, on January 27, she was able to hold her for the first time. Seeing the pictures of this mom, who I don’t know and will never meet, with her baby is a wonderful moment of hope. Clearly this family has a long road ahead, as the mom is still weak and on oxygen. However, when you see the pictures of them together, the oxygen mask seems to disappear and all I see is a mother’s love and true joy. A story of survival, and a glimmer of hope in a year that has been bleak.
• 
  2020-12-17

  Who should get the vaccine

  This article just explains who should, and should not, be getting the vaccine. This depends on your health status and other issues such as vaccine allergies.
• 
  2020-06-28

  Pregnant in a Pandemic

  This blog says a lot about the pandemic and how it affects parents to be. It highlights the feelings that would run through the mind of any mom getting pregnant in the current state of the world, and the difficulties with it. It is important that historians can look back and understand the feelings that are going through our mind and how we chose to voice those through writing. A quote that resonated with me in this blog was; “It’s hard not having my husband by my side as I watch our precious miracle wiggle and kick on the ultrasound monitor. To feel robbed of the magical experience we had with our first two. They allowed me to FaceTime him after the exam so that he too could see our healthy baby boy, but it simply didn’t make up for the empty space beside me where he rightfully should have been.”
• 
  2020-12-10

  Pregnant in a Pandemic

  I uploaded this flyer. It shares the need for masks and other protective equipment in fighting against the corona virus, especially for the population of pregnant women and new moms. The website has campaigns to aid in providing masks to moms and moms-to be in the Chicago-area. They do this in hopes to ensure these moms feel safe and secure during their pregnancy amidst a pandemic. Although I am not in that region of the country, I can understand the campaign for women in this category across the country and the globe. I think it important for historians to look back on this time in history and reflect the needs of certain demographics during this time.
• 
  2020-12-14

  Pregnant in a Pandemic

  I uploaded his page I found because it is an updated source of data for pregnant women during the current pandemic. The page shows total reported Covid cases of Pregnant women in the U.S. which is currently at 44,183. Along with the total deaths which is at 57 currently. It also provides other graphs and statistics on this demographic. This is very important data that historians can once day use when studying this time period.
• 
  2020-03-25

  Mandatory shopping orders implemented to help pregnant women

  When these orders by the state and corporations were released everyone was reading them. These played a very important role in ethics. Governor Baker and many stores like Target released orders to implement for shoppers during the pandemic. There were large crowds, long lines, and hectic shopping everywhere, these orders were placed to help those at a disadvantage. Baker said stores must allow an hour before regular hours for those 60 or older and this included disabled people and pregnant women. Target‘s order specifies that pregnant women were allowed to come in during shopping hours that were restricted to these certain groups of people. This is a very ethical thing to do for these people. Standing in line or being high risk in crowds was very dangerous for everyone, but especially for these people. These orders relate to an ethical archive piece that represents how pregnant women were treated during the pandemic. This was a small advantage for them in these unprecedented times. These were put out to reassure their accountability if a situation struck out where these people were put in danger in the crowds when shopping. Also, they both acted in this very quickly, they knew it was ethically the right thing to do, in order to protect these people with a disadvantage or at high risk.
• 
  2020-03-27

  Marginalized groups in a pandemic

  This article is focused on how COVID-19 affected a pregnant woman's birthing experience, especially harming black and native women. This article is very interesting to read and compare it to Brittany's story. Shaine Garcia and Brittany both were hoping for a healthy and smooth experience while giving birth, and COVID did not let that happen for them. The author mentions how the rules implemented allowed no visitors or accompany in these appointments. This prevented doulas and midwives from also being there. Those who were fortunate enough to have home births, midwives, or doulas were at advantage compared to those who could not afford this privilege. “Among mothers with low socioeconomic status, 18.7 percent of white women reported mistreatment compared to 27.2 percent of women of color. Indigenous women were the most likely to report experiencing at least one form of mistreatment by health-care providers during birth, followed by Black and Hispanic women,” says the Giving Voice to Mothers study.” This is the reason many prefer to have doulas because the black maternal mortality rate is twelve times a white woman. There are many disadvantages to those that could not have a home birth or the presence of extra support while giving birth. It is a very dangerous situation for these marginalized groups of women, that are not being treated correctly, especially during a pandemic where they are likely to face it alone. This correlates to the criteria of an item that attempts to fill an archival silence and amplify the voices of marginalized groups. Many people are not aware of the mistreatment happening to black and native women in hospitals. Doulas and midwives are there to help support and protect the mother in many more ways than people know, and because of covid-19, these privileges are being taken away. Although this article doesn’t specify those women who can’t afford them anyway, these women are being silenced. This article serves the purpose to educate and inform those that it is an issue going on and possibly getting worse during the pandemic. This is an article that shares the experiences of black and native pregnant women and how their experiences differ much more than other women. It was found through research.
• 
  2020-09-17

  Millennials and Gen Z are spreading coronavirus - but not because of parties and bars

  This article illustrates one of the main problems with fighting a pandemic. In order to completely stay safe, one needs to stay at home. But in order to pay bills and afford to keep their households going, one needs to be able to go out and work. Trying to balance the need to stay distant and the need to provide for one's family is a struggle that everyone is going through together.
• 2020-08-10

  Essential worker and a baby

  In the beginning of the pandemic I was 7 months pregnant and working in an ICU. As things starting getting worse more changes would come on how we operated day to day. Day to day became hour to hour, things would be changing. New policies, then new policies would change. I was also becoming concerned about how the rest of my pregnancy and delivery would be. When the policy came down that all hospital personnel had to wear a mask at all times I started to have a problem. Due to wearing a mask and being pregnant my gag reflex would be triggered and I would get sick. After trying to work for 3 days my only option was to take early maternity leave. So while I was not at work for most of the worst part of the first wave of the pandemic it was still a little unnerving. I stayed in contact with my coworkers and stayed up to date on my unit and the hospital policies. It was not only going to affect my job but also the rest of my pregnancy and delivery. On my last doctors appointment I was sent to labor and delivery to have my baby. I was nervous because honestly who wants to bring a life into a world of pandemic. I feared for the health of my newborn child. Upon admission you have to be tested for Covid-19, it was very uncomfortable! I was lucky to be able to have my fiancé there with me for the labor and delivery but once he left the hospital he was not able to return but only to pick me up from the door. Granted, this was my 4th child and I knew what to expect, it still was sad that he was not able to spend the entire time with me nor were my other children able to come and visit. At least I was able to have previous experiences of giving birth before the pandemic. After giving birth, we were pretty sheltered. No one visited. We never left the house unless absolutely necessary. My newborn son had only left the house to go to the doctor before this past week. I had to return to work so he is now attending a small daycare along with my 2 year old daughter. Their father and I are both essential workers. Having children during this time makes things so much more complicated. Can't take the kids to the store or to any appointments so trying to organize schedules is very complicated. I miss going out as a family. Before the pandemic my family and I would go every where together. Even if it was just the store. We loved just to spend that time together. Now I feel like we are never all together unless we are sleeping, then we are all home together. I pray for the day that we are all able to go out together, take kids to do activities and just spend time all together outside of the home. This pandemic has made me and I am sure many others realize how truly blessed we were and if at any point in our lives things get back to where they were before the pandemic to not take such things as going out as a family for granted.
• 
  2020-04-24

  Mr & Mrs Emma Eze

  Photograph of Mr Emma Eze and his pregnant wife trying to access health care in, FMC, Abuja Nigeria during the Covid-19 pandemic. *Photograph of Mr Emma Eze and his pregnant wife trying to access health care in, FMC, Abuja Nigeria during the Covid-19 pandemic
• 
  2020-04-26

  Uncertainty (Author: Gennady Khodov)

  Reading the news earlier this year, I came across information that people in China got coronavirus, and some even died because of it. When I read the news, I thought it would pass soon and thought the virus wouldn't reach our country. But I was too naive. After a while, the situation in the world was getting worse and the virus had gotten into many countries. At that time, I was beginning to realize that it was all very serious and that the virus was very dangerous to human civilization. In many countries, the authorities took strict measures to protect people from infection. In mid-March, a state of emergency was declared in Kazakhstan. People were in panic. Many people went to shops and bought a lot of food. I had the impression that the apocalypse was coming. But I was calm about the situation and did not buy a lot of groceries. Then I started monitoring the situation and reading the news about the coronavirus almost every day. There was a shortage of masks and antiseptics in our city and the prices of these things were very much up. People started to lose their jobs and I was afraid that I would lose my job too. I was working in another city, and I lived far away from work and in the city where my father and grandmother lived. And now I've been quarantined in many cities in our country. I didn't know what to do when they quarantined me. I couldn't go to another city for my work. I got depressed. I was afraid I would be left without money and all my clothes and documents were left with my grandmother in another city. I couldn't get my stuff to my girlfriend's. My girlfriend is pregnant. And I was also afraid for her. She's about to have a baby, and I lost my income. At that moment I was even thinking about suicide. How can I provide for the girl, myself and the future child in this situation?) These thoughts have tormented and tormented me until now. I got another job, but they don't pay me much here. And this money will probably not be enough, and the baby will be born this summer. Cases of coronavirus are only growing and I understand that the quarantine will last a long time and I will not see my grandmother and father soon. But for now, I'm trying to stay strong and keep my spirits up. I hope for the best... But I don't know what's gonna happen next... Uncertainty is a little scary. And I want to finish my small text with a quote from Arthur Schopenhauer: The world is definitely bad in every respect: it is aesthetically like a caricature, intellectually - like a madhouse, morally - like a fraudulent brothel, and in general - like prison. (Translated the text with a translator. Thank you for reading it...)