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SUBMISSIONS

Posts by Laura Ben-David

Mini-Layers Profile: #coronastories #pesach #LauraBenDavid

By Laura Ben-David | April 7, 2020 | 0

(1/2) “We were really lucky. My son had returned from a trip abroad with buddies and they were able to stay in the vacation apartment of one of the guys for their mandatory quarantine. We took it seriously, but back then we really thought it was just a formality. When the first one of the…

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thelayersproject

The Layers Project Magazine
"After my second son was born, I struggled with mi "After my second son was born, I struggled with mild postpartum depression (PPD). It was bad enough to be struggling but not obvious enough for anyone to suggest I get help.⠀
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When I started to think about having my third child, I knew that the statistics were against me and I assumed I'd struggle with postpartum depression again after he was born. I figured it would be exactly like the last time - a few months of misery and struggle that would slowly get better after I returned to work and the baby started sleeping.⠀
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Instead, I was hit with something completely new and surprising before the baby even came: prenatal depression..."⠀
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To read the full essay, "Maybe A Little Brighter, Tomorrow." written by Atara Paris- click the link in the link tree in the bio.⠀
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#thelayersproject #thelayersprojectmagazine #jewishwomen #jewishfamilies #postpartumdepression #ppd #prenataldepression #depression #mentalhealth #postpartum #cello 📸 by Yehudis R Taffel.
So many of you have asked about the statues of my So many of you have asked about the statues of my dad’s recovery from COVID19- and I am so grateful to you all for the prayers for his health. ⠀
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I can’t describe how miraculous it is that he is now able to share his experience in his own words below...⠀
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"I wasn’t aware of how sick I was in December when my wife Jeannie called the ambulance. Two weeks had passed at home with a serious case of COVID. I was brought to a hospital, where they at least said they had some room for new COVID patients, didn’t address my serious illness, and they sent me home still suffering. ⠀
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My case became acute, and when I was struggling to breathe I was admitted to a different hospital. They offered me a spot on a second-stage Israeli clinical trial for a medication that absolutely transformed my medical trajectory...”⠀
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To read his full update click the link to the Facebook post in the linktree in the bio.⠀
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#Thelayersproject #thelayersprojectmagazine #jewishfamilies #covid19 #recovery #coronavirus
So often we feel shame about negative feelings, wh So often we feel shame about negative feelings, which makes us as if they aren't supposed to be there.⠀
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We are told that we should “cheer up.”⠀
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But if we shut down the negative then we shut down the positive too. ⠀
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When we allow ourselves to feel, we can move through life without running away from it. ⠀
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#thelayersproject #thelayersprojectmagazine #feelings #feel #cheerup #jewishwomen #pandemic #2021 #covid19
These days it has been really hard to feel product These days it has been really hard to feel productive due to the heaviness of the pandemic. ⠀
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It’s easy to judge ourselves based on what we’ve accomplished.⠀
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But we are worth more than our output. ⠀
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Your functioning does not define your worth.⠀
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#thelayersproject #thelayersprojectmagazine #worthy #yourworth #functioning #jewishwomen #pandemic #2021 #covid19
"May 2, 2020, I felt really sick. I went to my lo "May 2, 2020,  I felt really sick. I went to my local emergency room and I was screened for COVID in the outdoor tent at the hospital.  I was being treated as a potential COVID patient.  They quickly diagnosed me with a neck infection, but it did not explain the amount of pain I was in or how sick I had become. ⠀
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Further testing revealed that I was negative for COVID but was suffering from Ludwig’s Angina, a bacterial infection of the mouth. I was told that this is typically misdiagnosed and not usually caught in time and can be deadly. ⠀
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I was told numerous times during my hospital stay that had I not come into the emergency room when I did, it is very likely I would not be alive today...”⠀
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To read Lori Prashker-Thomas's full essay, "Persistence, Perseverance, & Triumph" click the link in the linktree in the bio.⠀
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Image by ShadowCatcher Photography.⠀
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#thelayersproject #thelayersprojectmagazine #jewishwomen #illness #recovery #persistence
"It starts with a tightness in my chest. ⠀ ⠀ S "It starts with a tightness in my chest. ⠀
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Slow and searing, it feels like my heart has a clamp around it, suffocating me from feeling anything besides deprivation and heaviness. My breathing switches gears and starts speeding; I'm gasping and I can't keep up. As the corners of the room start to curl in, I close my eyes and feel a helpless unravel into darkness. ⠀
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There are some things I've gotten used to during this pandemic. ⠀
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Suffering from panic attacks isn't one of them."⠀
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To read our full Anonymous Essay, "Breathless: My Struggle With Panic Attacks"-- click the link in the linktree.⠀
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#thelayersproject #thelayersprojectmagazine #anonymous #anonessay #panicattacks #anxiety #panic #stress #pandemic #jewishwomen
My father is in the hospital sick with COVID. ⠀ My father is in the hospital sick with COVID. ⠀
It has been many months since words like “coronavirus” “quarantine” and “pandemic” have been coming out of our mouths. Words we never said before. ⠀
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Along with those words came a mounting fear; sometimes we could feel the virus breathing down our necks, on the verge of creeping down our throats and up our noses into our lungs.⠀
Sometimes it felt far away- like some problem that wasn’t our own. ⠀
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Some of our communities have been ravaged. Insurmountable losses; broken grieving periods.⠀
We’ve needed hugs and love and a shoulder to cry on that wasn’t six feet away. ⠀
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Some people have worlds that have barely been touched- perhaps a cold here and there. A fever. A passing sneeze and a return to a semi-regular restricted life. ⠀
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I feel like for all this time I have been living alongside the pandemic. Watching in horror, praying for the people who were sickened by this vicious virus and for their families to pull through this nightmare. ⠀
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Now it has been my turn to feel as if I was in the center of the storm. ⠀
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It was three weeks ago when my father was diagnosed with COVID. As the days passed he became sicker and sicker; till he was struggling to breathe, his fevers raging, his strength zapped by this beast. ⠀
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The virus is extremely cruel- the chaos it brings on the body- the boundaries it places between loved ones. I can’t be there. I couldn’t be there to care for him. I’ve waited for news every second of the last few weeks, praying that there would be a sign that things were turning around. ⠀
It’s been difficult to get him the medical care he needed. It took to the very last second; when it was so intense that it became severe, for him to be allowed into the hospital. The hospitals are flooded with extremely ill patients. He needed to be in the hospital long before he was admitted, but there was no room. They were saving spots for people even sicker than he. ⠀
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We are in the middle of a pandemic that is out of control. ⠀
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I can’t describe the rage, frustration, and fear when you can’t be there for someone you love. ⠀
I am endlessly grateful for the care that he is receiving now... more in link.
“My insides were in turmoil today. I felt like I “My insides were in turmoil today. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. My lungs felt heavy. The air felt thick and I was very uncomfortable. ⠀
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Yet now sitting at the menorah I feel a little calmer. I look at the fire shining bright and I feel the small spark of hope. The hope for my life to change for the better. The hope that one day I will feel what it’s like for a husband to love me. ⠀
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The hope that one day I will just feel loved and wanted in general. The hope that one day I will be held in someone’s arms. The connection I hope to feel. The inner peace I hope to one day have.⠀
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I’m hurting terribly but with the tears that fall from pain there are those that are mixed in with a little bit of hope.⠀
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It’s really hard right now but one day maybe it will be easier.⠀
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I  hope.”⠀
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#Thelayersproject #thelayersprojectmagazine #jewishwomen #singlehood #Channukah #zoschannukah #Hanukkah #candlelighting #candles ##lights #hope
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