Hi. I'm doctor Maria Brann, professor in the Department of Communication Studies. And I'm doctor Jennifer Bute, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies. Our research project is titled Understanding COVID 19 Birth Stories. In this year long project, we first conducted focus groups with women across the country to learn about their experiences of giving birth during the COVID 19 pandemic. This occurred when their state or local governments had issued stay at home orders. Then a year later, we followed up with each of the women individually to find out what it was like to raise a newborn during the pandemic. We found that the isolation of stay at home orders, in addition to changes in health care policy, such as limitations on hospital visitors and in person appointments, had a profound effect on women. Women discussed in detail the mental health challenges that they faced during the pandemic, including postpartum depression and anxiety, and they felt that these were really heightened by the pandemic. Women also talked about the challenges of managing who could see and hold their newborn. And so they were confronted with managing the safety of their babies with family members expectations about who could visit the baby. And the women in our study were very grateful for the opportunity to connect with other women with similar experiences. That way they knew that they were not alone. They even provided recommendations for helping pregnant women and new moms who were trying to navigate motherhood during this very unprecedented time. And they spoke to the media about our project so that other women would feel supported. Please join us as we discuss our findings further and answer any questions you might have.