Laura stopped leaving her home weeks before she gave birth. She lived outside of Minneapolis, where many people had been taken by immigration officials. She thought of mothers separated from babies, of children taken to detention facilities.

By the time she went into labor, her stress was so intense that her body had stopped producing sufficient oxytocin, her doctors told her. The  hormone is critical for labor and breastfeeding. Low oxytocin levels are linked with postpartum depression and severe depression.

Her contractions began in the middle of the night in January; without many options, she called her doula. Her father had been deported years ago. Her boyfriend had been staying with his mother since his dad was detained weeks before. They worried that if he left to drive Laura, he might be taken, too.

On January 14, Laura, an immigrant from Honduras with an application for asylum, became a mom. Her boyfriend, driven by her doula, joined Laura at the hospital after she gave birth, where for at least one day, the three of them could be together. She rested while he met his new daughter, a healthy 7-pound girl.

It felt simple: “He was very happy,” Laura said.

Laura, whose last name has been withheld because she fears being targeted by immigration authorities, would have loved to see other friends and family. But from the hospital bed, she worried about the consequences they could face — if coming to meet the baby might mean risking detention, or even deportation. She had no other visitors.

Leaving the hospital as a first-time mom can feel like liberation, escaping the solitude of a hospital room and venturing into the world. But Laura traded one form of isolation for another: her one-bedroom apartment, where visitors were rare.

“I was all alone with the baby, and no one could come see me because of immigration,” Laura said.

Read the full article about fear of ICE worsening postpartum isolation by Shefali Luthra at The 19th.