Post from Community: Storytellers sought for pandemic pregnancy project | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Pandemic Pregnancy Project
January 27, 2022
Editor’s note: Posts from the Community is the place for community announcements and event postings. If you have a community-oriented event you feel our readers would be interested in, please submit here.
Pandemic Pregnancies and Popsicles! a collection of stories from the brand, .
Hello Community storyteller. Congratulations on making it through the pandemic while bringing up life in the world.  is inviting you to share your real-deal stories of pregnancy, birth, and adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a limited series called Pandemic Pregnancies and Popsicles!. Overarching conversations around the pregnancy, birth, and adoption process often leave out the nuances of our experiences! What for you was especially beautiful and profound? Or what was especially brutal, and required more support and community care? And in retrospect, where in that experience can you find grace, a deep surrender, some deep humor or a twist of something sweet? Hence, popsicles.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Pandemic Pregnancies and Popsicles! is focused on collecting and archiving YOUR stories! What can you expect from us? Well, for one, to hold the complexity of your experience (shout out to one of our favorite doulas, JB, for that concept). We want to invite the real conversations around being pregnant, birthing, and starting a family during this panorama. Oh yeah, and this can be fun, too!
The fact is, people gave birth and are still giving birth during a pandemic. What is predictable if no action is taken is no collective documentation of these historical experiences. The way the future could be if a new possibility occured is documenting and making history of what people actually went through while pregnant, giving birth, or adopting during the pandemic, while celebrating and normalizing the various emotions and experiences.
What can you expect from us? We are collecting 30 stories for voluntary anonymous sharing via a podcast or local radio, narrated by another person; a partnership with a podcast of significant following or a radio station; a mention in a national news outlet; a mention in a local news outlet; a mention in two different theater outlets; and at least 20 social media posts.  You have your choice of who from the project you would like to interview you. It can be the person who sent this invitation, or a member you don’t know who is ready to welcome you and embrace your experience.
If you’re interested in sharing one story from your journey with us, we would love to interview you by February 2oth via zoom or mobile chat for our first round of interviews. If you’re more comfortable writing your story like a journal entry and sending it in, that works too. We know that raising babies takes a lot of time and we want to honor accessibility. We promise to hold space for your experience and adapt it in written word in a way that best represents it! We then intend to share the stories we collect in this project on a podcast, narrated by another person. Your stories are anonymous unless you indicate that you would like specific details about your identity revealed, e.g. first-generation American, San Diego based, or mothers of twins, Texas. If you choose to put details out, think about what details may be needed to understand the context of your story whether it be culturally or socially. To be part of of this project, contact