Wow. So much has changed in a month.

Our community and world is now on lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and I’d be lying to say it hasn’t had a huge impact on our lives and pregnancy.

Three days after my last post, just into my 3rd trimester, the first case of Covid-19 was announced in Missouri. What was crazy was that it was not only in our county of St. Louis, but the patient was actually a relative of a student at the school I was substitute teaching at! Fortunately, I had already planned to stop working during my third trimester, but I was still shocked by my proximity to the incident.

Things happened very quickly from there. Within a week we had hundreds of cases of the virus in our area and were advised to practice social distancing. Within two weeks all non-essential business were closed by state mandate in the county and city of St. Louis. About a week and a half later the governor was issuing a state- wide stay at home order with advisement to continue social distancing and wear face masks when in public.

Suddenly, the pandemic that felt like it was worlds away was right in our backyard.

I had actually just stopped working that week before this all happened, so my plans to stay home and nest held. The biggest logistical change to our lives was that Derek stopped going to work at the restaurant he had worked at for the past five years. His plan had been to work “a ton” in the couple months leading up to the baby’s arrival and then take up to one month off. So the restaurant being indefinitely shut down threw a big wrench in that. His team at the restaurant has really become a family since so many have worked there for years, and thankfully management was super up front about his job being secure until they re-open. That said, there is a certain amount of unease that I know he was feeling, since the restaurant industry is always shifting and restaurants close all the time with little notice. While the management team was promising stability and survival, I think everyone was taking it with a grain of salt while trying to stay positive.

Ultimately, without being fired or let go, the restaurant allowed employees to file for unemployment, and later in the month the federal government announced they would be issuing stimulus checks to all citizens. It did take the sting out of the lack of income, and we quickly realized that we wouldn’t be spending more than regular bills and groceries with the stay at home order in effect.

Going to any store now involves a ton of steps, wearing the mask and gloves, planning exactly how to stay six feet away from people while still getting to what we need. It was somewhat surreal, but also a little unnerving. Since I’m pregnant and in that “high risk“ category I eventually stopped going out at all and Derek became our main essential shopper.

I was so glad that I had decided to work through my first two trimesters because I felt set up financially to prepare for baby’s girls necessary gear, delivery supplies, and nursery. My family and friends were also helpful and so thoughtful, sending gifts and ensuring that all the pieces were still coming together!

So we have been SO grateful to be able to continue to meet our financial responsibilities from the safety of our home. We quickly made ourselves busy with projects around the house. It seems there’s always yard work that needs to be taken care of and we used evenings to making and baking fun meals. We soaked up having time to walk with the dogs more, catch up on movies and TV shows, spend time reading, and playing board games. The quarantine definitely provided time to savor the last few months as husband and wife before becoming Mom and Dad. I know when the baby gets here I’ll look back on all the mornings we got to sleep in and evenings when I got to take a nice long bath uninterrupted as “the good old days”.

That said, the pandemic added a huge question mark to any plans or understanding about how the rest of our pregnancy would look. And it weighed on both our hearts.

For the first couple weeks of the quarantine our morning coffee was usually spent speculating on what was happening out in the community, discussing news articles we’d read the day before, and ruminating about what might look different on the other side. I think we were both in shock and felt like we were having the same hour long conversation every day. But it always ended the same. Baby girl is still coming! We’re still SO excited! We have each other and we can get through anything! On with life!!

Our Childbirth class got cancelled. Our Infant Care class got cancelled. My OB appointments that were supposed to happen every two weeks got pushed to four weeks. Derek wouldn’t be able to come to the hospital for our last ultrasound. Our parents would most likely not be able to visit in the hospital after we deliver the baby.

But 'I’m taking comfort in what I can. We live in an internet age where there are tons of resources to learn about birthing and caring for a baby from home. My pregnancy isn’t high risk and my doctor feels confident enough to see me less. I had always planned on Derek being my birthing partner and main labor support, so nothing in my birth plan needed to change drastically. All the grandparents are able to isolate safely from home and will be ready to support us when they can.

This has probably been great training for parenthood because I know there will always be things that are out of our control. And staying prepared, positive, grateful, and healthy is the most we can do for our daughter.

Now for the happy news!

We got more 3-D pictures at the 32-week ultrasound! Baby girl was cooperative for all the growth measurements but when we tried to get her to turn her face so we could get some pictures she got a little stubborn. She kept putting her arm up in front of her face, and eventually settled on sucking her thumb. We got lots of images of her beautiful profile though. She is 4 lbs 11 oz, a little bit above the 50th percentile (which is good, whatever that means), and she is already head down in the ideal birthing position. It’s still early, but I’m hoping she stays there. Either way, we’re ready for her!