Photography by Carly May.
Ashley Feik-Campbell expected to have her pandemic was really tough. There was a period of time family close when she gave birth to her son. But two weeks before she went into labor, stay-at-home orders were issued at the onset of the pandemic. She gave birth to her son, Hugh, on April 5 with her husband, Britt, by her side. A clinical pharmacist at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, Oak Cliff resident Feik-Campbell headed back to the hospital after maternity leave. Here’s what the year looked like for a new mom and medical professional.
What was your 2020 like?
A mess. It was very bittersweet. Obviously, having a baby was the sweet part. But having a baby during a pandemic was really tough. There was a period of time when I had to mourn the loss of the dream that I had in my head that went along with having a baby. Although looking back now, I realized those things were not a big deal. Some of them even turned out to be really nice. My husband and I were very blessed in the fact that we weren’t affected financially by the coronavirus. And we had a happy, healthy, normal, beautiful baby boy.
How long was your maternity leave extended?
Probably about six more weeks. I was originally not even going to take three months. I was going to take eight weeks. And at eight weeks, we had a check-in and they said, “you just keep going, take the full 12 weeks, because we’re not scheduling, and we’re cutting hours.” I didn’t go back until he was maybe four and a half months.
What was it like to give birth during a pandemic?
Giving birth with a mask on was really difficult. I was nauseated. I wasn’t used to the mask back then because it was so new. In all of the pictures of our brand-new baby coming into the world, my husband and I have masks on. You can’t see our faces smiling. We had no family come to visit. I was really sad about that because it’s our first baby, and I really wanted my parents to be able to be there. In hindsight, it was really peaceful. It gave me a chance to actually read and just bond with my new baby.
What was life like for a medical professional this past year?
In the beginning, it was really scary because I didn’t know what I was going to bring home. I would come home, take all my clothes off and race off to try to wash work off of me, even though I have no exposure to patients. They have taken all the pharmacists off of the floors. I certainly don’t feel the anxiety that I did in the beginning. I have had an inside look at the types of patients that are getting coronavirus and the way that they’re affected and the treatment strategies. I have been surprised by some of the people we’ve had in our ICU. There’s the typical, elderly, diabetic, COPD, all the stereotypes. Then you’ve got a perfectly healthy, normal 33-year-old on a ventilator in the ICU.
What was your experience having COVID-19?
I would say moderate, for me. I had a low-grade fever, fatigue and loss of appetite. My husband was very similar. He got it a little bit less severe than I did. We assumed our baby also got it, but they don’t test babies that little unless it’s absolutely necessary. It’s dangerous because they can accidentally poke their brain, so the pediatrician said to assume that he probably did get it. He didn’t bat an eyelash. He had absolutely no symptoms.
Photography by Carly May.
How long did it take before the grandparents got to meet their grandson?
Nobody got to meet him for a long time. Being a new mom, I didn’t have any experience with babies. I was planning on having my mom, my sisters and my mother-in-law to pass down the knowledge. The shutdown happened two weeks be- fore I had him. Nobody was offering classes anymore. Our pediatrician kept saying that we couldn’t have visitors because we didn’t want him to be exposed to anybody yet. My in-laws were chomping at the bit to be here, but at the time we did not know enough about COVID to know if it would affect infants. On the flip side, my parents didn’t see how they could get up here to visit the baby without getting some type of COVID exposure in their 70s. My parents finally came up and met him after he was about six weeks old.
What’s been the hardest adjustment?
I’m an extrovert. I am energized by being around people, and being isolated is very draining for me. Then intensify that feeling with huge hormone changes and shifts. Women that just had a baby often have depression, even if it’s not postpartum depression. It is really common to have the baby blues right after you have a baby, and it typically goes away after a couple of weeks. But those first few weeks, this sudden drop in hormones makes you feel very anxious.
How do you hope to celebrate his first birthday?
His first birthday actually falls on Easter. My hope is that the weather will be nice and we can have friends over for an outdoor celebration and just be able to reflect on the last year. Hopefully, we’ll be on the other side of some of the craziness.
