Celebrating Motherhood in 2020

This is my very first Mother’s Day as being a new mom. And if you asked me how it has been so far, the short version I’d reckon would be this… After 9 and a half months of pregnancy, an 18-hour long birth, and 4 weeks of endless love, mixed with the worst nipple pain, sleep deprivation, and breast engorgement, I have made it to a point where I guess all moms get to realize what motherhood really means. 

It means sacrificing yourself each and every day, reaching new highs and lows in your life, and, most importantly, feeling a kind of love that comes in such a true and unconditional form you never knew existed. In short: It’s a crazy rollercoaster ride of deep emotions, extreme hormonal changes, and physical discomfort right from day one when you see that positive pregnancy test.

And although each of us has their own individual story to tell, whether you have grown-up children, are pregnant, you just gave birth or you adopted: We are all in the same boat cruising down the river of motherhood. Me being a millennial mom, which has proven to be already a difficult role in modern society, can say that especially this year has been a lot to handle with the ongoing pandemic situation.

With kids not being able to go to school, women having to give birth without their partners by their side and a mask on their face, as well as all the frustration caused by social distancing, being a mom in 2020 has reached a whole new level. And while staying healthy is something we can possibly be most grateful for nowadays, being a mother deserves a special celebration this year.

For me, all of this meant that pregnancy shoots were canceled, I had to wear a mask when I arrived at the hospital when the contractions had already reached a level where I was about to throw up from the pain, and now that our lovely baby girl is here, nobody has really been able to meet her yet. Furthermore, I am now trying to survive the gloomy fourth trimester without any social interactions and leaving the house.

But yet here we are, celebrating Mother’s Day in 2020 with a sense of taking new chances and rethinking ways to make the best out of this. Teaming up with our mate Nirish Shakya for a remote shoot was only one amazing outcome of this weird situation. And for the rest? Undisturbed time with my newborn baby, time to heal and time to grow into my new role as a mother have definitely been things I might not have had under normal circumstances.

Time for all of us to pat our shoulders and make this Mother’s Day a truly special one. We are now making it through a global pandemic - if we can do this, we can do everything.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Model and Styling: Anna Bianca Gerlach @annabiancarose

Photographer: Alejandro Shamus Keegan Serran @alejandroshamus

Direction & Editing: Nirish Shakya @nizzah