Pregnancy and a Pandemic

The last few months have been an interesting mix of happy and terrifying.  We found out that I was pregnant at the end of January.  Instantly we were thrilled and chomping to tell any and everyone.  Andy bought me the most beautiful “Yea, we are pregnant!” bouquet and we went about planning which room would be the nursery and what our parenting style might be.

We waited until we heard the heartbeat before making a very happy announcement. FB official!  I wanted to write a blog announcement about it then, but the world has been a crazy place since March hit.  With the coronavirus wreaking havoc, things have switched from joyous to a bit terrifying and uncertain.

Initially, I thought the things I would worry about during my pregnancy would be morning sickness and weight gain – and finding decently cute maternity clothes. But, now I find myself worrying how long my company will be able to let its employees work from home, how long we will be able to keep Andy’s business afloat, how long we will be able to pay rent and doctor bills if this continues, if my check up appointments will get cancelled, and if the person I passed in HEB may have just given me a virus. Its like a strange, pandemic-apocalypse movie come to life.

I have noticed a flaw in all apocalypse movies that I have never thought of before. The movies show grocery stores still full of things like canned soup and toilet paper – such is not the case these days. I ventured to the store yesterday and the shelves were eerily bare – nothing left for the surviving scavengers to pick through months from now.

Being pregnant during this time is a uniquely terrifying experience. The worst part is not knowing how long it will all last. We may be through it by the end of April or we may have several more months to endure. It is hard to not worry about what things will look like if this stretches until my due date of Oct 5. Will we be able to find room in a hospital? Will my family be able to be with me? Where will we be living if rent gets to be too much on a now-limited income?

We are trying to remain hopeful on all accounts. No point in wasting worry. And we are brainstorming possibilities to supplement income and counter future issues if this does go on longer than another month. Until then we are finding pleasures in the little things. Our baby is doing well and growing happily. He/she has a beautifully strong heartbeat and is currently craving salad the most – a huge improvement over the fruit roll ups I was devouring just last week.

We will find out the gender in just a week and a half. We were planning a gender reveal with family on the weekend of Easter, but if things continue, we may have to come up with an alternate plan. My daddy’s birthday is around that same weekend and it is so difficult not to be disappointed on missing Easter, his birthday, AND our gender reveal.

We are still optimistic though. I’m blessed that my husband and I make a strong team and, as long as our baby is healthy, we can overcome anything. We send our love and concerns to everyone out in the world dealing with similar worries. Everyone just take a deep breath, continue to check in on the news, and tell yourself that you got this – we’ve all got this.