“It changed the atmosphere surrounding the baby I did have”: Making sense of reproduction during sustained uncertainty
Objective: This study examines the schemas that women employed during the COVID-19 pandemic to make sense of their reproductive experiences. Background: Existing research on reproduction during epidemics suggests that there are variable population responses to periods of long-term social uncertainty and that individuals and couples can respond to these circumstances in unexpected ways. However, less is known about how individuals make sense of their reproductive experiences during periods of social upheaval.Method: Twenty-nine women aged 25-35 from a mid-sized Midwestern county were recruited and were interviewed about their experiences during the first eight months of the 2021 COVID-19 pandemic. They were asked about their daily lived experiences and about their partnership and reproductive goals during in-depth interviews. These interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic coding of the three main schemas that participants used to describe their reproductive experiences.Results: Participants used three main schemas to describe their reproductive experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Heteronormative schemas were used by many participants to articulate their commitment to a heteronormative aged-staged progression of life events. Affective schemas were used by participants, primarily those who were currently or recently pregnant, to express grief and loss over the relational experience of having a new baby. Medical schemas were expressed by most participants to describe feelings of fear and risk at real or imagined encounters with medical institutions during the pandemic.Conclusion: The schema that participants use to make sense of their reproductive experiences have real and enduring consequences for their current and future reproduction.