((PKG)) GIVING BIRTH DURING COVID 
((TRT: 3:11)) 
((Banner: A Pandemic Birth)) 
((Reporter/Camera: Lisa Vohra) 
((Locater: Reston, Virginia) 
((Main Character: 1 female)) 
((MUSIC)) 
((Courtesy: Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill)) 
((Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill, Operating Partner-SVQUAD, Mother 
of Newborn)) 
When you’re pregnant, you’re, kind of, bombarded with 
information about, you know, things like Zika or other, you 
know, diseases that can really affect the fetus, and with 
COVID, just no information at all. 
((MUSIC)) 
((Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill, Operating Partner-SVQUAD, Mother 
of Newborn)) 
All of our dreams of doing babymoons or having any sort of 
like, you know, travel while we were pregnant, just obviously 
couldn’t happen. All of the scans that I was getting just to, 
you know, make sure it was a healthy pregnancy, normally 
you would have your partner or spouse there. You know, 
these are really like big milestones. So, like the 20-week 
scan, which is the really big one, almost always a husband 
would be there. So, my husband kind of missed out on all of 
those. I mean, obviously he got to see the images, but just, 
you know, interacting in real time with the tech, he kind of, 
you know, didn’t get to have that experience. So, that was a 
little bit, you know, disappointing.   
((MUSIC)) 
((Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill, Operating Partner-SVQUAD, Mother 
of Newborn)) 
But luckily, they did allow one person to be with you in the 
delivery, so it could have been a doula. Obviously in my 
case, I wanted my husband to be able to experience it.  
((Courtesy: Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill)) 
So, he was there, you know, gowned up like any normal 
delivery husband. He was able to be right near me the whole 
time. He was able to hold Rumi. He had to wear a mask, but 
I didn’t. So, I was a little nervous going into the delivery, 
whether or not I’d have to go through a pretty intense 
physical experience in a mask. But because I was negative, 
they didn’t make me mask up.  
((Courtesy: Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill))  
((MUSIC)) 
((Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill, Operating Partner-SVQUAD, Mother 
of Newborn)) 
Post-birth is already a pretty intense period for any new 
parent. You’re constantly questioning whether you’re doing 
enough and layering COVID on top of that. You know, still so 
many unknowns about how it affects children. You know, 
sometimes you hear it doesn’t affect them at all. Other times 
you hear that, you know, they can have serious issues.  
((Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill, Operating Partner-SVQUAD, Mother 
of Newborn)) 
We missed out on all of those early visits, the way that we 
missed out on a baby shower. So, it wasn’t easy. I have to 
say there was a lot of texting, a lot of phone calls. The silver 
lining, I would have to say though is, no fear of missing out. 
You know, normally, I think, when you’re a new mom, you’re 
really like feeling the left behind, like you can’t go see the 
hottest movies. You can’t eat out, you know. You’re really 
stuck at home all the time. Well, during COVID, everyone 
was stuck at home. So, I wasn’t being reminded of what I 
was missing necessarily because there was nothing being 
shared. I think, if I had been having that kind of  
((Courtesy: Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill)) 
resumption of normal life hanging over me, I may have felt a 
little bit more anxious about it. You know, I just remember so 
many of my friends, like the last month of their maternity 
leave, there's like this kind of almost dread because you’ve 
gotten so used to one-on-one time with your baby and now 
you have to think about somebody else stepping into that 
role. It’s, you know, such an abrupt shift and for me,  
((Courtesy: Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill)) 
I was able to kind of transition that a lot more gradually 
which, I think, has been really wonderful and allowed me to 
really feel comfortable in my role as her mom.   
((MUSIC))