Life Goes On

Mothers show strength in the face of the coronavirus.

- Lydia Woolever

Before the birth of her first-born daughter this spring, Jennifer Ramsdell had many plans in the making. She attended prenatal yoga in Hampden. She took birthing classes at the Saint Agnes Hospital. She went over every detail with her mother, mother-in-law, and doula, all of whom would be by her side, along with her husband, Dustin, when the baby arrived on April 13.

“I just wanted there to be this huge network of women around me,” says the 28-year-old Bolton Hill resident. “We put a lot of thought into what kind of support I was going to have. There would be many helping hands.”

Three months later, Jenn now sits in her quiet home, nursing Eleanor, who was born a week late after 36 hours of labor. Ellie, as they call her, is a calm, curious baby who just learned how to laugh, which is just one of the many little moments Jenn wishes she could share with loved ones. They aren’t here, due to the novel coronavirus that arrived in Maryland just before her newborn.

“No one else can really go through this journey of parenthood but you, but in isolation, there’s this extra layer of loneliness,” she says. “It’s the feeling of mourning—what could or should have been. This is supposed to be such an exciting time. When they say it takes a village to raise a child, that feels so real now.”