Help, please?
It’s that time of the month again: my article deadline is coming up. The topic this time is when you’re pregnant far away from your family. How did you/do you stay connected through the pregnancy? What about after the baby arrives?
If you have thoughts and want to share, please email me at dawn@thiswomanswork.com!
Dawn,
I live in the territory of American Samoa, roughly 5000 miles away from the West Coast, where my entire family lives. I gave birth to triplets in April of last year (2 girls, one boy). Fortunately, my mother was able to come for the birth, but my sister and father, both of whom I am very close to, have yet to meet my children. It is difficult to go through all the excitement of raising these wonderful children without being able to share it with them, but we do what we can through very frequent phone calls and daily emails. One lifesaver has been the digital camera–by taking semi-regular pictures, I can send them to my entire family, and that has helped a lot. I think a digital video camera would be even better, but it’s not yet in the budget.
I can’t imagine what I would have done even five years ago without the internet access I have today. That is really the number one thing that helps close the distance between myself and my family.
Hope that’s of use to you!
Sincerely,
Laura Laumatia
Dawn,
My husband and I live in Pennsylvania, while my family, who I am very close to, lives in New York. While the distance is not terrible, 6 hours by car or a 45 minute flight, I wish that they were closer. My in-laws are even closer, only a 2 hour drive, but even that can seem like a great distance when you don’t have a lot of time. I want my son to grow up knowing his grandparents. I envy those people whose family are close by and have babysitters almost whenever they need them. During my pregnancy, we talked on the phone often, and tried to get together whenever possible. After Archer was born last December, my family hit the road and came down to spend the weekend with us after I got home from the hospital, and then my mom stayed on for a week. I don’t know what I would have done without her in that first week, as my husband had to go back to work, and I was exhausted and a bit depressed. Now she tries to see Archer at least once a month, either she comes down here or we try to make a quick weekend trip up there (thank goodness for USAirways E-savers!). E-mail and the internet are a god send though. I get all of our pictures developed onto CD-ROM and then e-mail them to the family so they can all see how fast he is growing (and how darn cute he is). So while the distance is not great, we are still in a place where we have no family and I regret that at times, but we do what we can to make sure Archer gets to see all of his grandparents as much as possible.
Sincerely,
Danielle Euler