If you find yourself with a lot of anxiety or fears during this global pandemic, one solution might be to have a baby.

One Ishpeming couple says Michigan’s stay-at-home order has been a blessing in disguise allowing them to spend plenty of time together with their new-born daughter.

Alex and Mel Matthews - both 23 years old and parishioners at St. John the Evangelist Parish - welcomed their first child, Delilah Mae, into the world on April 10th.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Mel. “I was very anxious when the COVID stuff started happening, but by the time we were going to have her, that’s all that was on my mind. I didn’t really care about anything else.”

Additional health and safety precautions are being taken at Bell Memorial Hospital where Delilah was born. Mel noticed that doctors “had on a lot more protective gear.”  Except for her husband Alex, no one was allowed in with them. “It was cool to watch how everything works and everything happens,” Alex said. “I thought that was awesome.”

Mel said the whole experience was quicker than she expected. “All of a sudden you’re just sitting in your room and doctors — everyone — is in your room and then 10 minutes later, everyone's out and it’s like, ‘what just happened?’”

Mel said it seemed there was no one else at the hospital besides them and the staff. Alex described it as a ghost town. “When we left there were only five vehicles in the parking lot,” said Mel. “That was actually kind of nice, too. When we needed something people were pretty much there right away.”

The young couple said they have been able to see God working in their daily lives during the quarantine, strengthening their relationship with their infant and each other.

Alex appreciates the opportunity to be a stay-at-home dad for the time being. “I think the biggest blessing is being able to bond all three as a family together,” he said. “Instead of me going to work and Mel bonding with her during the day and me coming home and bonding with her, all three of us spend the day together.”

“Not having that support from family has been harder” said Mel. “But before the quarantine started, Alex was going to be home for only a couple days after she was born. I can’t even imagine thinking about that now. That would have been a nightmare! Obviously, not a great thing to have to be quarantined, but it's kind of been a blessing in disguise in some ways.”

They are hoping to have Delilah baptized as early as possible but are waiting for when they can have more than 10 people present so that their parents, godparents, and siblings can attend in person. Catholic churches in the U.P. reopened on May 1st for private prayer but have not yet resumed public celebration of Mass.

The Matthew's will be celebrating their one-year wedding anniversary on May 25th and noticed the time together has also affected their marriage. “I think it’s been good for our relationship too,” said Mel. “If we didn’t have this time I think we probably would be less patient with each other. With the lack of sleep and being busier, I think it would have felt harder for us.”

The Matthew's are not the only family to raise their first child in uncertain times. “It’s similar to Mary, Joseph and Jesus” she said, “how they had to pretty much quarantine themselves. They didn’t have family or anyone around and they were in a very traumatic situation too. I thought that was kind of cool.”

When asked if they had any advice for expecting parents Alex said, “The biggest thing would be don’t worry about something that could happen before it even happens. Try to enjoy every bit of it. If something happens, then worry about it. Try to take every minute of it in — just soak it in.”

“I was going to say the same thing,” said Mel. “My advice is don’t worry about it, because once you have that baby in your arms nothing else in the world is going to matter at the moment.”

And as far as what they enjoy doing now that they have so much time with Delilah?  “We just like to sit around and look at her,” said Alex.  “It’s funny, because I’ll look at pictures from a couple days ago, and I feel like she changes so much everyday,” said Mel.