Sarasota mothers adjust to life with newborns

Krystel Beall has already noticed a few things about her new son, Brody — she loves every single one.

He’s strong, just like his mother who’s been into fitness her entire life. 

“He's laying on my chest like his second day and he pushed up and moved his head to the side,” Beall said. “And I'm like, ‘Oh my god!’”

There’s also the fact that Krystel and her husband believe he’s going to be blond — the first of their four children. They’ve had time to think about these things and more since Krystel welcomed Brody in late April. 

Every mother enjoys time with their newborns, but Beall and other new parents have had more time than expected. As the shutdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has continued, Beall and other parents have stayed home and watched over their children. 

It’s not how she imagined her baby’s first days. While her other children’s births came with a revolving door of family members and well-wishers, Brody’s birth just had Krystel and her husband Matt present at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, and that’s how it stayed until they left. Quiet, but appreciated. 

“You feel obligated when someone wants to come see the baby,” Beall said. “It’s almost this entertainment mode … but it was nice (alone) and low key.”

Beall, like many new parents, is getting used to being a mother during an unprecedented time of isolation. There are new anxieties she never anticipated, but also up sides she’s enjoying. 

“It's hard that our parents, being new grandparents, can't come and see,” Beall said. "You know, our support system can't come and snuggle the baby but then again, it's kind of nice … it’s giving us all time to adapt to a new routine without so many people in and out.”

She plans to trickle in other family members and friends in a few more weeks. 

Katy McBrayer-Lynch welcomed her daughter Vivian into the world on April 18. The Realtor with Premiere Sotheby’s International started feeling labor pains while showing a house. 

“Everybody who joined kept saying ‘Wow, you’re going to have a baby’” McBrayer-Lynch said. “I said ‘Yeah, I think it’s going to happen tonight.’”

She says it’s been smooth sailing now that home renovations are complete and the baby room is finished.

McBrayer-Lynch was also able to have her husband in the delivery room while she gave birth, and the couple has been enjoying time together getting to know their new baby.

“It's inevitable that we're all going to have go back out into the world,” she said. “... We’re concerned but not too concerned.”

Britt Riner was slightly nervous taking her daughter Paloma, who was born in mid-February, to the Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s ER when she developed a fever a few weeks ago. The Sarasota County Public Hospital Board member was surprised to learn her daughter had caught a virus, though they had followed quarantine rules. 

“I think it really underscores our family's decision to remain in a tighter quarantine situation even as things begin to open up if our baby responded so acutely to what is typically a mild virus,” Riner said. “If that’s how she responded to a mild virus … I don't want to find out how she would respond to COVID.”

Her family has had time to get used to adapting to the times, challenging and rewarding as they may be. While Riner’s plan for the spring was to have her 3- and 4-year-old children at school while she had friends over to meet her new daughter, the pandemic has made it so she and her husband are working around the clock to keep the children engaged and learning. 

“I had been concerned how my 3- and 4-year-olds would receive their new sister (before quarantine) but I actually think the intense family bonding time has been beautiful,” Riner said. “They’ve grown leaps and bounds more with their sister than they would have.” 

It’s been something of a beautiful challenge. 

“There have been some really sweet moments.”