#MothersDay: How The Journey Of Motherhood Gave This Woman A New Muse In Her Life!

Highlights

People carry their opinion about mothers and motherhood.

Why women are expected to pause their career after becoming a mother?

Neha Vinayaka, a New Jersey-based photographer, shares her experience.

Equal parenting matters and should be for everyone!

How COVID-19 impacted her whole life?

Her message to other working mothers.

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What’s the most beautifully unexplainable thing in life? Something that has all the logic behind it but yet it seems to be so much indescribable!

It is probably the journey of motherhood — the beautiful transformation of a girl into a woman and then a warrior who fights all odds to bring a new life to this galaxy!!

Now, this could be really subjective — people carry their opinion about mothers and motherhood. While some believe that it puts an end to a woman’s career, others think that a woman herself should pause her career for her kid. From different myths to societal barriers, there are so many things that a woman comes across — only to find a better life for her kid — a better place for herself — where she’s not expected to make any sort of sacrifices, and she gets to choose her own way to live the life.

Sounds fictitious? I would have said yes if I was writing this half a century back — but the 2000s era have shown me some of those gritty women who fought odds to follow their dreams while raising their kids in the best possible way!

This Mother’s Day, one of those gritty women shared her experience with me — the journey of her motherhood and the tactics which she adopted to ensure that her kid grows up in a safe and beautiful world!

Neha Vinayaka is a New Jersey-based photographer who recently moved back to India. While being a full time working professional and a 5YO kid’s mum, and of course the coronavirus pandemic, she did a lot of juggling.

After getting married, the Indore based woman moved to the USA with her husband. While she had an MBA, travelling and photography was her real call!

Soon she became a suggested Instagram user, and after becoming a mother, she got her muse. She started capturing every moment of his son’s life — from his newborn moments to his sitter milestone, to when he started walking — and she still captures it.

Neha’s entire motherhood became so rewarding that it helped her get into her dream job, and she finally started her photography venture.

“It wasn’t easy! In the US, we didn’t have any support system. So it was my husband who supported me, and that’s how I balanced my motherhood duties along with my work!”
says Neha, who has a 5YO kid son, Nivaan

While the work eventually got smooth, she got in a process, and it was her own mental and physical health that she had to take care of! “I have come out of two chronic lifestyle impacting diseases, Cholinergic Urticaria and Dyshidrotic Eczema, which debilitated my confidence and social presence for almost six to seven years. But I didn’t give up, I changed my entire lifestyle to an organic and sustainable one, and this became one of the biggest reasons why I started going outdoors and doing photographing in the first place…because it got my life back, I was appreciated as a person, and that made me happy,” she shares.

So while it wasn’t easy to fight back, Neha never really gave up! After becoming a mother, one thing that she realized was there is a need for equity in the division of labour between husband and wife, especially after they become parents — equal parenting matters!

And while the pandemic impacted her parenting life, it also impacted her professional life. Being a mother, she says, it’s not easy to manage kids, work, home and yourself! “I lost many clients and projects which not only impacted my professional but also my financial life. I innovated and pivoted to a different style of photography (outdoor newborn photography – contactless newborn session) to get my business on track,” she continued.

And now that she is back in the homeland, she is looking forward to gradually converting her current business model to a more sustainable one. “I want to bring a change in the photography domain so that there is a better and more environmentally friendly way of doing business. I would like to educate my clients that less is more and what matters in photos is the emotions and not the fancy or heavily decorated prop based setups that will eventually land in our landfills and cause earth more harm,” she says.

“During our college days, we had a very limited scope that went beyond formal education. Talent was not a primary aspect of living, and therefore coming from that background, it took me a while to figure out my passion, that my heart lies in this creative genre. I would soon be hitting 40, and my business is still just a few years old. So this whole loss of time is my biggest regret. People often say that age is just a number. But ask a working mother, and she might tell you that better!”
Neha says on asking her if she holds any regret!

Neha believes that there is no end to a mothers’ love and commitment towards her child, but it is equally important that she builds a strong support system around her that can alleviate her stress and bring holistic happiness to herself, her kid and the family. She should not shy away from delegating duties to her partner, friends or any close member of her family!

This #MothersDay, Infano sends a warm hug to all those parents, especially mothers, who are fighting the pandemic, managing the work, raising their kids — all well beautifully and graciously!

Let us tell you that you are a warrior, and you deserve all the love and happiness around you! #HappyMothersDay

Image Copyrights: Neha Vinayaka Photography

Highlights

After COVID-19 vaccination it is not uncommon to have a 1- to 2-cycle irregular period as the endometrium is part of the immune system.

While few reported heavy bleeding during their menstrual cycle, some others reported early onset of periods with painful cramps and some had delayed periods.

People should not be alarmed due to it and treat it as a minor side effect of the vaccine.

All changes reported have been minor or temporary with no damage to fertility, hormone, or reproductive health.

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Two researchers- Kate Clancy, a human reproductive ecologist and associate professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and biological anthropologist Katharine Lee of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have collected more than 140,000 reports from people who say they’ve noticed a change in their periods after vaccination; Lee and Clancy are formally documenting those cases in an open-ended study on women’s health and reproductive systems post-vaccine.

Clancy’s took to social media after her own experience, “My period after dose one was one of the heaviest I remember having ever in my life,” she says. “I did not anticipate it blowing up to the extent that it has. A lot of emails, a lot of Instagram DMs, and a lot of tweets of people who are just baring their souls to us.”

But Dr. Beachgem, a pediatric emergency response doctor explained in a video that an irregular period, after vaccination is normal and is not detrimental to your health or fertility.

“After COVID-19 vaccination it is not uncommon to have a 1- to 2-cycle irregular period. Your endometrium is part of your immune system, so this can definitely happen,” she explains.

Women are more hormonal than men. During ovulation, the immune system receives a sort of a ‘signal’ to prevent infectious agents from disturbing conception. The cells of the uterine linings also contain some immune cells, which could be affected by hormonal changes and create mild, inflammatory reactions. If the ovulation doesn’t happen, the vaccine could end up spelling some changes to the period cycle.

All three US manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson) have denied that they have seen any irregularities in menstruation or fertility. But the early COVID 19 vaccine trials studies never spoke about reproductive health. This is a huge lapse on their part because they have just disregarded women’s health and the bodies of people with ovaries making them unseen in the clinical trials.

The good news though is that most of the irregularities seem to be short-lived. “From what we have seen so far, it appears that the changes to the menstrual cycle seem to be short-lived, just a couple of cycles,” Lee says.

While few reported heavy bleeding during their menstrual cycle, some others reported early onset of periods with painful cramps and some had delayed periods. But many others had different experiences, too with untimely spotting or bleeding (breakthrough bleeding).

“We started hearing a lot about breakthrough bleeding, from people on long-acting reversible contraception, people on gender-affirming hormones, and postmenopausal people who were years and years out from their last period, sometimes decades out,” Lee says.

However, both researchers say that these irregularities should not be taken as an anti-vaccine argument. A vaccine needs to be taken. But for awareness’ sake, people need to know if there will be an adverse effect so that they are informed and know to expect an irregularity and should not be alarmed due to it and treat it as a minor side effect of the vaccine.

Riley says she believes issues such as the effects on menstruation need to be addressed in future clinical trials of drugs and vaccines: “Because when you can’t answer those questions, you’re asking people just to believe.”

It is only to be informed, aware, and better prepared for women to expect slight changes in their menstrual cycle after ovulation but this should not be a reason for avoiding the vaccination as it is a must. And all changes reported have been minor or temporary with no damage to fertility, hormone or reproductive health. However, if symptoms seem to persist for a longer period, it is better to contact your physician.

Source: npr.org , timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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