All things COVID

kboydbowman

We're living in interesting times, which are also terrifying, particularly for those of us who are expecting.  So I think it would be a good idea to make a thread specifically for the elephant in the room.

So what goes here?

--News articles (reliable sources only please)
--Memes
--Worries/fears related to COVID
--Rants and raves related to COVID
--Resource sharing - requests and offers. Do you have extra Lysol wipes you want to share? Do you need toilet paper? Let us know - maybe someone can help/be helped.
--And anything else relevant to the current crazy COVID world we're living in

mamahosch

All these thoughts are running through my head this morning because last night I started to kind of feel a tickle in my chest and lungs. This morning I feel it again and had one sort of phlegmmy feeling cough. But I hear the coughing is dry and continuous with COVID so I’m crossing my fingers I didn’t pick it up somewhere and this is just a chest cold starting😞

kboydbowman

@mamahosch yeah if it's a phlegm cough without a fever it's likely not covid.

mamahosch

@kboydbowman yeah my best friend works in the medical field and she’s been a great resource on COVID! She told me the same thing. I’ve had bad allergies this spring and I’m thinking it’s likely that it’s just post nasal drip collecting, which always seems to happen to me in the spring. 

kboydbowman

@mamahosch probably also the generic lovely first trimester congestion!

slpeterson38

Im glad to know a thread like this exists!! Through all of the madness i’ve tried to remain calm and level headed but sometimes it really weighs on me. Hearing that we might not see the end of this for several months is terrifying. As a first time mom and still pretty young (22) I want more than ever to be around my family during this time. My mom falls under the high risk category so I can’t go and visit her or go to her for a hug or support. Though I get to call and text her throughout the day there’s something about being in your mothers physical presence that is just so much better. I’ve had my first two ultrasound appointments rescheduled so, again, being first time pregnant and previously being on a really gross and dangerous prescribed medication for chronic migraines (known to cause serious birth defects) it’s really hard being in that “not knowing” headspace. I find myself not being able to sleep at night because I don’t know if my pregnancy is progressing the way it should. I’ve had nightmares that i’ve lost my baby and it’s so hard to settle those thoughts without having a doctor tell you you’re okay and on track. Although I don’t wish this upon other moms, I find solace in knowing i’m not going through this alone. Next week I finally have my first ultrasound and i’ll officially be 12 weeks. I’m nervous/scared/excited and it can’t come soon enough. Covid-19 has already caused so many other problems in my life (as well as others) and I can’t believe i’ll be going through my first pregnancy during a pandemic!! 

mamahosch

@slpeterson38 I completely understand how you feel. This is my first pregnancy too and it’s just weird thinking that I’m pregnant during a pandemic! What a story for this child to hear in a few years! I was supposed to have my 12 week appointment on Wednesday of this week but they cancelled it. I don’t go in until 16 weeks which means I won’t have been in to see if my
baby’s okay for a total of 8 weeks (I had my first US at 8 weeks) and it’s completely nerve wracking.

kboydbowman

This is my 3rd pregnancy, but I lost the other two around the 9 or 10 week mark, so this (11w3d) is the furthest I've ever made it by several weeks and I'm terrified that COVID will make something happen later on in the pregnancy now that one finally seems to be sticking.

courtneyjoy247

My husband and I have been given two seats on a repatriation flight (Chad-USA (DC) -Toronto) sometime THIS week!!!!!

 If you’ve seen my other posts we’ve been emailing consulates, driving to Embassies, writing Senators/Ministers of Parliament petitioning for a flight as we are all but stranded in Africa. Who knew advocating for my lil one would start so early. Flights were stopped with NO warning & land borders closed. That same week the attacks from Boko Haram started  

The uncertainty of it will be canceled is somewhat terrifying... as in the past month many flights have been rumoured or promised. My OB back in Canada has been amazing- he wrote a signed letter to the embassy asking for my husband and I to be priority. The OB has also been helpful as new symptoms come to Whatsapp/text me his advise... so there is good in the midst of the hard. Without being able to SEE the doctor I similarly find my heart worried things aren’t progressing properly @kboydbowman  @mamahosch @slpeterson38 I’ve been speaking truths over myself when fear creeps in... praying that my lil one will grow to be courageous and filled with faith from the time they’re carried in my womb & all their life. Pandemic babies are going to be fierce!!

anitamargarita_82

@courtneyjoy247 congratulations on your flight.   Be safe!  

newlibramama

What a crazy time we live in. I am curious if there are any healthcare workers doing direct patient care here. I am freaking out everyday as new research comes out. There are some case reports of vertical transmission and this had been terrifying me. So I wanted to see if there are any healthcare workers or other people doing daily customer service. I wanted to see what others are doing for protection in early pregnancy and see how you all are coping because I don't think I am doing well with all this unknown

kboydbowman

@newlibramama I am a psychologist working in prisons and yes I still see all of my people directly face-to-face.

JLaVO888

@courtneyjoy247 Yay! Great news.

My grandpa was born in 1918 so that has oddly given me some feelings of hope and calm around all this craziness. I keep telling myself he was born in the middle of a large pandemic and obviously lived through it which means my great grandma was pregnant during all of the Spanish flu so it’s proof everything can be okay. 

AB518

@newlibramama There are multiple people on these boards who work in healthcare with varying degrees of patient contact. My hospital now requires everyone working there to wear a mask all day except for when eating or hydrating. I have been wearing a N95 mask because I am involved in procedures with a higher risk for transmission. The problem is taking care of people without any symptoms, so I just act like everyone is potentially infected. I am constantly washing my hands and cleaning everything. When I go home, I immediately take a shower and put my clothes in the washer. I'm dealing with the situation the best that I can. The unknown can be scary, but I just continue to do what I can to decrease my risk.

kboydbowman

@newlibramama Sorry, I forgot the other part of your question.  I work in a prison.  We're being given the option to wear masks, but they are not mandatory, nor are they being issued.  Most staff outside of medical are not yet wearing masks. Right now there are no confirmed cases among either inmates or staff in my prison.  For what I do (psychologist), we are seeing most of our inmates cellfront with a door between us and them.  When we do see them in an office, it's from a distance of at least 6 feet.

mammatoomc

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have kept my job and salary...until yesterday. I was completely blindsided with a furlough effective Friday. I’m a nurse but I’m in operations and don’t work clinically. We have lost so many patients-and as a private urgent care, it’s had a huge impact. I knew we were furloughing staff cause I’ve been selecting who stays or goes...but yesterday morning my boss called me and said I either go work I the clinics or get furloughed. I do not want to risk myself and unborn baby or my 5 year old at home. Who might I add, does not have daycare due to COVID. I am nervous about the furlough because I will be completely unpaid while on maternity and I’ve been in storm mode saving for maternity leave. So the good thing, I have enough to get me by for now but it will impact my maternity leave savings. My boyfriend has also been out of work for 2 weeks now so we have no income at the moment. I’ll apply for unemployment Friday. It’s just so scary being pregnant and refusing to expose myself and baby means I’ll be furloughed. I came into nursing knowing what I was getting into but I accepted the promotion in operations for the reason of stepping out of my clinical duties. 

Ugh. This too shall pass. Just unsettling right now. 

In better news, I’m officially in the second trI! Yay! 

Hope y’all are staying well and sane! 

To the mommas who have had To reschedule  OB appointments, I encourage you to advocate for yourself and explain you fears to your OB. It’s not okay that they are rescheduling and delaying your prenatal care. 

coldbrew

@newlibramama I’m a pediatric urgent care nurse and still working. I spoke to my OB about it and he seemed to feel that vertical transmission wasn’t happening that they know of and is most likely occurring post-delivery. He said that this gestation of pregnancy is most ideal since that seems to be the case, and that unless this extends into 3rd trimester I can safely continue working. If it does extend into 3rd tri I may want to consider taking leave because positive moms are being separated from their newborns and emergency C-sections are being delayed by staff having to don PPE which could risk mom/baby’s life.

morethanamama

@courtneyjoy247 amazing news, hope to hear from you from this side of the pond soon!
I have been coping ok considering I have family in Italy. I thinks seeing what was happening there helped me prepare. It's been absolutely surreal but I have just been coping on a day to day basis. Most of my bitching is stupid and entitled so I catch myself daily complaining on the fact I might not be able to travel this year, see my family or my in laws, when realistically we have secure jobs and a roof over our head. 

I am not too concerned about vertical transmission from what I have read in some recent research. I hope that we catch a break between the first and the second wave and that the baby is born in between...then I will have to worry about covid and a newborn, but hopefully that won't be the case (fingers crossed).

courtneyjoy247

Good news on this CoVid Feed... my husband and I made it back to Canada!

The Canadian Embassy worked with the US Embassy and got us two seats out. Right before we boarded the plane the Chief of the American Embassy was yelling on the phone advocating for us to be allowed on... apparently Ethiopian Air was afraid we’d be turned away & didn’t know other nationalities than Americans were on the plane. We got on!!! (Thanks America!!) Then 3 hours into the flight we almost got turned around because some security screening was missing. In the end they negotiated we land in Togo. Everyone and everything disembarked to go through security again. Fortunately we were allowed to carry on... unfortunately everyone went back to different seats (GERMS PEOPLE?!?) 🤦🏼‍♀️

We wore mandatory face masks, social distanced in lines, disinfected my seat, and I washed my hands a hundred times!! We did our best & now are in mandatory quarantine at a friends cottage.

traveling pregnant-  I drank loads of water & got up to walk every hour but after 17hours + 4hour flight my feet were swollen and I was done. The Varicose Veins are NO JOKE! Anyone have tips for that? 

carrotsandpeas3

@courtneyjoy247 congratulations! I'm so happy for you and it is so good to receive some good COVID related news! That trip sounds like a nightmare, but I'm glad you are safely back in Canada. I would love to hear your story of how you ended up in Chad if you are willing to share at some point! Hope quarantine goes well. ❤️

morethanamama

@courtneyjoy247 yay congratulations on your return and I hope you rest up for a while now!

profmcgonagall

@courtneyjoy247, I’m so glad you made it back! 

coldbrew

@courtneyjoy247 I’m so glad you’re home safe!

Kurtni

@courtneyjoy247 so glad you’re home!! 

courtneyjoy247

Thanks everyone!! It is pretty incredible to see how the Embassy flight came after A LOT of joint partnership across countries. We need each other in times like this!!

Thankful to be back in Canada and eager to go see the OB after quarantine is done... by then I won’t have seen the dr in nearly two months. What have your experiences been like getting appointments right now? Are partners allowed or no? 

babycakesday

No partner allowed at my appts but he is allowed at my sonogram at 21 weeks. 

kboydbowman

@courtneyjoy247, it really depends on where you are.  Currently where I am (California), no, but they are letting me videocall him during the ultrasounds.

carrotsandpeas3

@courtneyjoy247 my practice is still doing appointments but a lot of them around me are not (or are just doing virtual). We are also not allowed to bring anyone with us. 

morethanamama

I'm keeping all my appointments and they are every 4 weeks but no ultrasounds, just the Doppler. Only ultrasound in the foreseeable future is the anatomy scan in mid May and H, at the moment, is not allowed. No issues with the other appointments though. They have screening in the lobby and last time I went no one was there, it was crazy! 

mamahosch

@courtneyjoy247 so glad you made it Home safely! My 12 week appointment was cancelled last week, so when I go in at 16 weeks I won’t have seen the doctor in 2 months. They told me to come alone to my 16 week, but I’m hoping at our 20 week ultrasound that DH can come for gender!

ginevere

My last appointment at 10 weeks was over the phone and so will be my next appointment which is this Weds. They better schedule an in-office ultrasound for my 20 week appointment or I think I'll lose my mind!!!

westslopemama

I will be going in person to my next appointment, in 3 weeks and my husband is allowed to come, but no children can come so he will be staying home with our son. I am hoping to qualify for the telemedicine program (you must be low risk with no complications) because the birthing center is 75 minutes away from where I live. With the telemedicine program the visits are virtual unless you need bloodwork or an ultrasound and you get a Doppler, bp monitor and urine testing supplies. The OBGYN clinic where I was previously being seen is doing a lot of phone appointments right now. 

angela444

@courtneyjoy247 I'm in Alberta and haven't heard of any restrictions on appointments yet, I have an ultrasound booked next week and no one has called me to reschedule or give any special rules.  And my dad just had an MRI in Ontario a week or so ago and he didn't mention anything was out of the ordinary at the hospital (I think he went to Guelph?)

baseballismyfavoriteseason

@courtneyjoy247 Hooray for a safe return!! It sounds like regulations/restrictions are differing across regions and even depending on your office. My OB’s office is allowing 1 guest 18yrs+, so my husband can come, but the MFM clinic where I had my NT scan and will have my anatomy ultrasound is not allowing anyone besides the patient. The office will definitely let you know their policy when you make your appointment. 

JLaVO888

@courtneyjoy247 So happy to hear this news.

Today marks my hardest day yet in this covid “adventure”. 3 hour zoom meetings and teaching from home with two small children and DH away at work while being exhausted and pregnant with nausea and spring allergies after a month of sleepless nights due to insomnia has finally taken its toll. I’m mentally, physically, and emotionally empty. It’s also the one month mark since I’ve actually been in my classroom which means I’ve been in mostly 100% isolation from the world a month now minus two Grocery runs early on in the month and my ultra sound. Flopping/dumping/crashing that all here because I just needed an outlet. I feel like we are just at the start of this too which is making it feel even more overwhelming. 

amandarenee89

Has anyone had a virtual appointment yet? I just set up my 16 week appointment for next week and it's going to be via telehealth which I'm totally ok with, but was just curious on how it goes. I don't own a scale or blood pressure monitor, so are they even concerned with those vitals at this point?

I was told I would have an in person ultrasound for my 20 week anatomy scan. 

JLaVO888

@amandarenee89 Nope they didn’t check any vitals. She just updated my medical history and that was about it. She did order my labs for my blood to be drawn and I just remembered I haven’t gone to do that yet. Every dr will do it differently I’m sure but even in person they don’t do a whole heck of a lot this early on anyways. Weight gain is minimal so far and if you had any major reasons for them to worry about your blood pressure I’m sure they would see you in person. 

profmcgonagall

@amandarenee89, my 12 week appt was virtual with a nurse. She basically just asked me how I was feeling and if I had any questions. It didn’t even last 5 minutes 

carrotsandpeas3

That's why my doc said I could just skip my 16 week instead of trying to do a virtual appointment. He said since this wasn't my first rodeo, I could just call if I have questions because that's pretty much all a virtual appointment would solve.

amandarenee89

Got it. Thanks ladies! I do have a few questions for the appointment, but no major health concerns. 

MrsCeballos

kboydbowman said:

@mamahosch probably also the generic lovely first trimester congestion!

That's really a thing?! I have had a cough and congestion since I found I was pregnant. I just have phlegm in my body constantly( sorry if tmi)

Went to the Hospital (drs office refused to see me because of covid-19) for it because I didnt have with my other two, and was going on 3 weeks with it. They said everything, lungs and heart, sounded great and it was probably a cold.

Then a friend told me she had the same thing her first trimester and then boom went away her second trimester.

I am gonna ask my obgyn at my appointment on tuesday just to make sure 🤷‍♀️