History teacher Angie Cosimano and her husband were the only people, aside from doctors, allowed in the hospital room as she was giving birth to their newborn son Leonardo on June 29.

“Giving birth during the pandemic is lonely,” said Cosimano, who added that even before the birth she was completely alone while going to the doctors’ appointments. The experience and celebration of giving birth was slightly muted when the couple and new baby came home.

“No one could really come to visit except immediate family and even then they had to wear masks and wash hands.”

Besides the welcoming of new life in adaptive circumstances, Cosimano said that she and her husband are now catching up on sleep and taking care of Leo. The strong name Leonardo prompted wonder as to if this name choice was influenced by the actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Cosimano cleared up this suggestion and said the name was not chosen because of the famous actor.

She explained, “We liked the name. And he was the leader of the Ninja Turtles, and not like Raphael who was just known for his attitude.” 

With many days now spent at home, Cosimano took up baking. 

“I also made a lot of banana bread,” she noted. However, when the new mother was too busy to do it herself, she would order lots of GrubHub. And with the new life of a homebody, Cosimano rewatched all of the Marvel movies in order; her “favorite Marvel movie is Thor: Ragnarok. It’s the perfect balance of action and comedy. I can’t get enough of Korg.” 

Cosimano also watched the new film Black is King, which was written, directed and executive produced by Beyoncé. 

According to Cosimano, “Black is King has so many incredible outfits and costumes and the cinematography is beautiful. It also is a great tribute to blackness.” Lastly, what really sealed the deal was that “it has Pharrrrrrelllllll!”