They say it takes a village...but we don't have one! As my due date nears I'm getting more and more nervous. We live in interior Alaska, so our nearest relatives are over 3000 miles away. Despite actively trying to make friends for the last seven years (through jobs, taking classes, etc.) we haven't been able to make any - with the exception of one person nobody has ever been interested in seeing me/us after one or two social outings. We do see our one friend pretty regularly and she's great, but she is busy and can't be our sole support through pregnancy and postpartum. I've even sought professional help to see if I have trouble picking up on social cues or do something that make others uncomfortable but they weren't able to identify anything.

It's almost becoming a little embarrassing honestly - it occasionally comes up with my midwife and doula. They've advised waiting until after the baby shower or until after hand me downs come in to buy too many things, but it doesn't apply because there's no-one to come. At a class it was advised to have a meal train organized. A book about pregnancy was recommended by my midwife but it had lots of cute suggestions about things to do throughout pregnancy that required friends so it made me sad. My husband will be able to be home 1 week after baby and it's hard to explain that I can't have anyone check in after that to see how I'm doing because there's nobody to ask. My emergency contacts are all thousands of miles away.

I had really hoped to hire a postpartum doula or a "paid friend" to visit and help with things once or twice a week for a couple months but it's not going to be possible.

I'm also finding myself more and more worried that our involuntary isolation will be passed down to our baby and cause problems.

I know I can't be the only one that's been through this! There are just some of us out there that others don't like to be around (thank goodness my partner and I found each other!) If anyone has suggestions or tips for cultivating a feeling of a safe community for a child in the long term, and keeping the isolation from pushing you into full-blown PPD in the short term, without the aid of others let me know! Please and thanks :)