'You Were Born In A Pandemic': BK Couple's Story Becomes New Book

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — This time last year, Brittnay Claytor and her fiancé were battling the normal stress of becoming new parents with one added twist — it was the height of a global pandemic.

Starting with a diagnosis of a luckily-mild case of coronavirus in Claytor's eighth month, the pair navigated a year of unprecedented challenges: from the possibility of a home birth before hospitals reversed a visitor ban, frantically sanitizing before bringing their newborn home and meeting grandparents through a computer screen.

Fear-stricken for months in their Bed-Stuy apartment, Claytor and fiancé Jonathan Carey took on the start of first-time parenthood largely alone.

"We were even scared to go outside," Claytor said. "It was really tough times."

But even back then, the couple said they knew they weren't really alone.

"After we had Asher we started thinking, 'We’re not the only ones going through this,'" Carey said. "We decided to do something to commemorate the moment and give to people...to let them know they’re not the only ones."

The result is "You Were Born in a Pandemic," a children's book about Claytor and Carey's birth story that has now sold more than 400 copies around the world.

After months of research, writing and hiring an illustrator, the couple self published it earlier this year.

Scores of parents have since written to Claytor and Carey to let them know they relate to the book, which the couple says has become a popular gift for baby showers or new families.

"It's a whole community of parents out there," Claytor said.

It has also become a gift for the couple themselves, which was part of their motivation for writing it. They have been reading it to their son, Asher, since it was published early 2021.

"We wanted to make sure we told this story," Claytor said. "He can always look back at it and say, 'This is what happened, wow.'"

Claytor says the couple, who recently moved to Virginia to be closer to family, are now working on a second book, "I’m Just a Baby in a Pandemic," to continue the story.

It will focus on Asher's thoughts wondering about the idiosyncrasies of growing up in a pandemic, with family in masks, six feet away.

"He'll be a year old in May and the pandemic is still not over," she said. "[It'll be about] him just questioning, 'Why?'"

"Although our kids may not get that time back with other people, we can at least say we wrote this book for all families going through this."