Skip to the bottom if you don’t want to read. I typed more than I thought I would.
I went to the local board first, but no one has posted in the AR board since 2018. Since we are all due in Feb., I figured this would be the next best place to ask.
First, some things about me. I am a teacher in Arkansas and vaccinated, though being vaccinated does not do me much good since the vaccination rates are so low. I am due to have my first child Feb. 7. By law, our schools cannot mandate masks. This means no one will wear them, since AR is so anti-vaccine, fake news, my body my choice (ironically). Our hospitals are full. There is no room. People are getting rolled into the ER on stretchers and sitting in front of the front desk until a room becomes available.
I am absolutely terrified. The hospital is incredibly short-handed as is, and school has not even started. I am afraid I will not have the proper care when the time comes.
On top of this, almost my entire side of the family are unvaccinated, anti-mask wearing nurses. I do not want to debate vaccines or masks. Two of them work in a nursing home where it ran rampant last year and one works at a hospital. The pharmacist thankfully has had their first shot, so I won’t count them.
I do not want to keep my mom from this baby, but this is a discussion we have had in the past, and vaccination is just not going to happen for her or anyone else in this family. I honestly think two would find new career paths if they were required to get vaccinated. One got covid from the nursing home last year, and the other is pretty sure they had covid but didn’t take a test.
I am to the point of contacting each hospital nearby and asking at what point would they wheel me back to labor and delivery. I am to the point of completely isolating myself and this baby from everyone and not returning for the rest of the 2022 school year. I know there is a lot of time between now and then and not a lot if any I can change. I feel very helpless. What can I do? How can I be proactive in my and my baby’s health during a pandemic?
Re: How can I be proactive in a pandemic?