Covid-19 Thread

older1sttime_mom2b · March 2020

Thank you ladies for your support. I avoided the news and social media the last couple days to just try and de-stress/relax. Last night I think I felt movement from the baby! (16+6) so that was a happy moment.

So far neither of us has symptoms, and unfortunately before my husband found out he was exposed we spent a lot of time together. So, if he has it, I have it. I'm supposed to go to my job as a nurse unless I have symptoms, and wear a mask. My husband is in HVAC which is considered essential for now, but his hours may be reduced or cut altogether pretty soon. We just have to wait and see what happens.

I hope all this blows over by the time the baby comes. I was counting on my parents traveling in from another state to be there for the birth.

[Deleted User] · March 2020

So I got to be brave and go out there with the shoppers!!! 😱

LSS, DH tested positive for influenza A ; NOT Corona virus, thank goodness! So while he's still laid up on the couch, I got to go out with DD, as much as we hated to do it that way. He tried to stay out after his flu test and wait for the prescriptions to be ready, but he just felt too lousy and had to get back home to rest.

The store was really not too bad, they had pretty much everything we needed, but the whole Lysol section was decimated, so no spray. BUT THAT CHECKOUT LINE THO! One wrapped around the whole frozen section, the other went all the way down the bread aisle. So anyway, I was just waiting once I realized what was going on. I bent over to give DD a kiss and thank her for being such a good girl... ❤️ And this young storeclerk came over and said, ma'am are you feeling anxious for your baby??? I was speechless. She pulled me off the line and past all the other people and put me next in line on the 65+ / comprised line!!! I very nearly cried. I am about to cry just thinking about it. So kind! Phew!

ETA I think heard the cashier mention, and it makes sense, if I ever had to do that again (it was totally unplanned today tho) I would absolutely go early on a weekday morning, not midday Saturday, and I'm sure that would help avoid some of the crowd.

So we got out of there as quickly as we could, and got over to the pharmacy, where Walmart self checkout was actually marvelously quick and uneventful.

As much as I would have preferred not to have to go, and not to have to go with DD, I have to say I am grateful. It honestly wasn't that bad here, and it gave me a chance to get a few things that DH might not have prioritized, or known where to find quickly, (my fiber gummies, a face compact, formula, baby saline, Tide for her diapers, cheap laundry soap for us, more shampoo / conditioner, pantiliners 🤷)

But I will say, I was also very glad and relieved just to be home. :)

cornichonmam · March 2020

So yesterday at school was hard. So many staff and pupils were upset and the kids in the exam years were just shellshocked. It currently doesn’t look like the schools will reopen for at least 12 weeks if not until after the summer break.

I just feel so bad for the older pupils as all their exams have been cancelled and essentially they have finished the year and have left school. My students have been working really hard on their coursework and the products they have made are about 90% complete, it's just so heart breaking that after all their hard work that they won't get to finish them. For the oldest pupils it is going to affect their chances of getting into university. The government has said that they won’t be disadvantaged and their grade will be determined by their teachers based on mock exams and previous data but a lot of students can revise heard and when it comes to the actual exam get 1-2 grades higher than they ever have done previously.

The school will be staying open for key workers children (healthcare workers, social workers, delivery drives, food industry workers, teachers, etc.) with a skeleton staff and for the moment the children who get free school meals will be coming in at lunch to get their meal. No other system has been organised yet for the free school meals pupils, some counties have been able to give the children food vouchers. The public transport system is being drastically reduced from Wednesday and that means that one of the pupils will need to walk 5 miles each way to school to get the one hot meal that she desperately needs.

I'm going to end this long post on a more positive note. Though none of the pupils were excited to be off school they were so calm and my pupils helped me sort and organise boxes of resources for the pupils that will be in school. They were also talking about lots of different ways of staying in touch and keeping busy during the time off. Some were talking about starting a book club.

[Deleted User] · March 2020

That is a lot @cornichonmam just to have everything end so abruptly like that. From what I gather here, a lot of schools were about to go on March break anyway , so in a sense they just extended it, but most have not set an end date yet. So while there's talk of it being the rest of the school year, some are only confirmed for a couple weeks or a month. On the one hand if they were about to break anyway, that makes it easier, but if it turns out they don't get to go back at all and see their friends again!??? That's brutal. Idk. I just have to hope it's all for the best, even if we can't see it now. (((Hugs)))

emiliadkay · March 2020

@rivercitynik Ooo thanks for the DSM toolkit recommendation! I've fallen terribly behind on my podcast listening -- it was a lunchtime habit and I've sort of dropped it in the total schedule/life overhaul that's taken place the last couple weeks.

I've been completely MIA here while navigating life for the last bit, and I'm so sorry for that. I am hoping to start catching up this weekend and doing better going forward. DH and I are both still employed, and extremely grateful for that, but working two full time jobs from home, with DS (who is currently sick) here too, has taken everything out of us. We're adjusting, as is everyone I know, and I try to remind myself of the incredible human capacity to find a new normal and move forward. More to come once I've caught up

[Deleted User] · March 2020

Hope DS is on the mend soon! @emiliadkay

How had I not seen this!????
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2020/03/20/calling-all-people-who-sew-and-make-you-can-help-solve-2020-n95-type-mask-shortage/amp/

lachnessmomster · March 2020

@cornichonmam I am gutted after reading your post and feel terrible for your students. This is a stressful, questionable time for anyone, let alone school-age children who have just had their worlds turned upside down. The way you described their helpful, calm demeanor and how they were determined to keep busy, even though their school year has been thrown into chaos, was beyond heartwarming and shows their character. I keep thinking about all these kids who have worked so hard and are basically being robbed of their opportunities for colleges and scholarships, as well as celebrations like graduations and even proms. Those are all important milestones and moments for a young person. It must be terribly difficult to be a student throughout this weird historical time, particularly for those who find solace, a safe space, and a hot meal by going to school. I am just so sorry to read all of this. A book club is a wonderful idea.

rivercitynik · March 2020

@emiliadkay so glad to see you back here! Hope you are hanging in there and adjusting to this new normal.

cornichonmam · March 2020

@BusinessWife @lachnessmomster Thanks, I'm feeling a bit better about it today. Thankfully we already had a very good online learning platform set up so it hasn't been that difficult to set work, we can even have forums on there so the pupils can chat about their work and share ideas. It's a difficult time for everyone, I just worry for the families that were only just keeping their heads above water before.

samsonator · March 2020

In certain hospitals, husbands aren't allowed in when women give birth 🥺 wow. I understood when they said only 1 support person but this is crazy. I can't imagine having to give birth alone

RedBaramid · March 2020

I have heard from one person who is 38 weeks right now that she was informed that her husband can be there while she labors, but has to leave immediately after birth. If things turn sour and she needs a section they will not let him in the OR, they can't spare the extra PPE. He would be allowed to stay at the hospital until she was out of the OR and receive word of her condition but then would need to leave. They wouldn't even get to see each other. This is her first baby and she is very taken back and nervous. I did my best to reassure her with everything I could as far as what C-sections look like and what recovery times look like and told her she's totally allowed to be scared and have all the feelings.. but reality is really scary right now. I was able to ease her nerves some but it cost me some of my own. I am trying so hard to just keep calm.. but it's hard.

On a lighter note because we don't have a washer/dryer in our apartment I was able to convince my husband to order a mini/portable unit that will fit well in our bathroom and that will be able to wash 80% of our things without issue. It should arrive around the 26th if things go right. I'm kind of excited to be able to wash mini loads frequently and not have laundry pile up like it does. We should save some money in the long run too since only our bedding will need to go to the laundromat.

[Deleted User] · March 2020

Oh wow! I am excited for you and your new laundry setup!!!! @RedBaramid In-house laundry is Everything. ❤️❤️❤️

kgrgreen · March 2020

@BusinessWife I'm crying at your post about your grocery store experience. That is so encouraging they noticed and were concerned!

@RedBaramid I hadn't heard of the c-section mama's having to go in all by themselves but it makes total sense to preserve PPE. Man. That really throws more emotion into things and planning/making decisions about our own birth plans. Thank you for sharing.

mrswheeler812 · March 2020

We got the update this morning we will all be working one week and be off the next and it will all be paid so no impact on insurance thankfully. As of right now non of my appointments are cancelled or switched to telehealth because I'm high risk and as much as they don't want to take chances with me being out going without an in-person check can be just as dangerous.

tanhabanana · March 2020

Had had a rough day yesterday. My first real panic over everything. I’m doing better today thankfully. I guess this is just the new normal. I’m trying to cut back on social media to help with stress. I was even having nightmares about delivering by myself. Ugh. How are you all dealing with stress? Any tips?

coldlife · March 2020

Re: discussion of home births a little while ago.

I'm not, but I am extremely happy to be with my birth center and not an OB practice/hospital right now! Right now, they're asking for no more than 1-2 people to be with you, and anyone who comes has to go straight to your room. They can't sit in the waiting area. That's fine as my husband is the only one ever with me. And with being OOH, how long I have to stay before going home is much shorter. The stay requirement is typically up, and I can go by the time they've finished stitching any tears, giving me a meal and getting me up and around, so we've never had anyone come to meet the baby or see us there. I also know my midwives would never push for an elective induction simply because of the virus, and there's no way I'd ever say yes to that if a doctor tried that with me.

One positive I did see in that article @businesswife posted is we might see the number of CS go down during this time because women need longer hospital stays if they have one. I really hope this is the case, and doctors start managing labor better so women don't need them as often and that hospital or doctor policies around VBACs change to be in line with what the ACOG says. That would be a huge positive!

cornichonmam · March 2020

@coldlife @BusinessWife Let’s hope so, and hopefully less interventions full stop.

Unfortunately, my husband is ill and it looks pretty likely that he's got C19. One of his colleagues (my husband was sat next to him all of Tuesday) became ill at the end of last week and later that day his wife (who is a nurse) was tested and was confirmed as having it. I'm already starting to feel a bit under the weather so let’s hope it's not too bad. Unfortunately, it's pretty unlikely that we'll get tested, they are only testing people now if they need to be admitted to hospital.

The UK has just announced a full lockdown across the country too today. It's getting intense! I'm going to suggest that you guys order and pregnancy related things that you have been thinking of ordering now because if the USA has a lock down too you might not be able to get them.

WishesSheCouldCook · March 2020

I think this must have been In a randoms and not here but can someone post the link to the urine testing strips? I think my practice is going to switch to virtual appointments

coldlife · March 2020

Guys, someone just shared this with me. If hospitals are forcing you or your friends to give birth without your husband or a companion, they are NOT acting within the guidelines for handling Covid-19.

From the WHO:

"All pregnant women, including those with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infections, have the right to high quality care before, during and after childbirth. This includes antenatal, newborn, postnatal, intrapartum and mental health care.

A safe and positive childbirth experience includes:

Being treated with respect and dignity;
Having a companion of choice present during delivery;
Clear communication by maternity staff;
Appropriate pain relief strategies:
Mobility in labour where possible, and birth position of choice."

Personally, I would say having high quality care and being treated with dignity and respect and allowing for mobility and different birth positions would also preclude doctors forcing inductions on women as well.

Please fully inform yourself and push back!

https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-on-covid-19-pregnancy-childbirth-and-breastfeeding (Click the "what care should be available during pregnancy and childbirth" question.)

WishesSheCouldCook · March 2020

They’ve closed school in my state for the rest of the year. I won’t be back in a classroom until November and I have a lot of emotions about this whole thing.

[Deleted User] · March 2020

@WishesSheCouldCook My clinic only recommended the bp monitor (when I asked specifically) but I'm glad I have the test strips too, anyway. Gives me peace of mind knowing I could alert anyone if there were any issue brewing...

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00XIKQCJC?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

I'm not sure if there is a smaller size available. I'm sure we won't need 150, but anyway, that's the brand @fitandnerdy 's clinic recommended. Mine have already arrived! I haven't tried out my BP monitor yet, but I'm kinda excited about it lol

AFM, my clinic did let me know as of now my fetal echo is cancelled, but anything could happen between now and the end of April. 🤷

[Deleted User] · March 2020

@tanhabanana (((hugs))) there's so little of this we can control. You can prepare all you can, but ultimately it's not going to change the outcome in a lot of respects. This thing has helped me commit to praying my Rosary daily; I pray it with DD in the morning after breakfast, and believe it or not, most days we put on a YouTube Rosary, and do our best just to pray along with that (even if it's in the playroom and semi distracted.) Sometimes it's more peaceful, while we're winding down for bed or naptime, but anyway that has helped me a lot to just let go of a lot of the stress and anxiety part, and just be present, home, and in the moment.

Anyway, that's what I'm <i>trying</i> to do. The more media I consume, the more anxious I get too, so I have to try and make a point to limit that. DH being sick helped a lot tho, because he was holed up in the TV room! Lol

fitandnerdy · March 2020

@cornichonmam oh man, I’m sorry to hear that. Fingers crossed you guys both start feeling better quickly. Good tip on the supplies, I was going to wait ordering what my MW practice suggested, but I don’t really see this stopping anytime soon and I may as well just pull the trigger.

@WishesSheCouldCook it was my practice that suggested the urine strips.. as @BusinessWife mentioned, maybe your practice would suggest something different so it doesn’t hurt to give them a call and ask if they haven’t given you info yet...

ETA: I can see on the amazon handout they gave me that they typed “ob chem strips” in the search bar if you want to try searching for different sizes or something

Have my anatomy scan scheduled for April 14 and as of now, no one can come in. I’m hoping they’ll be a bit more lax on allowing FaceTime and/or recordings ... or if this could all be over by then, that’d be great too (wishful thinking....)

charhar0820 · March 2020

Well if my stress wasn’t high enough... I called my doctors office to see if my monthly prenatal appointment was still happening Thursday. To only get the answering machine which has informed me the secretary is on holidays and my doctor is in self isolation. They left an email to contact her so I sent one with my concerns as to what I do now?
I was suppose to be referred to a OB 2 months ago. Last appointment I had to remind her and she said we would do that at this appointment. So now I’m just, confused.

No results for my anatomy scan? no referral for an OB?..
I waited so long to have a baby. This is my worst fear. This is just my luck.

Today has already been awful and it’s only noon. 😭
oh and also, there was a poll taken recently and turns out Canadians aren’t taking COVID seriously. The government is literally pissed and shutting down even more nonessential shops and whatnot.

Wake me up when this is over.

[Deleted User] · March 2020

@charhar0820 I hear you, I am pretty much over it! Lol I take it this is your family doctor / GP? Do you really need a referral? All I've ever done is call up the Ob, tell them I am pregnant, and they ask me when my LMP was. 🤷 I can't imagine anybody is going to be a stickler about something like that, given the situation! Did you have a nearby practice in mind?

ETA because it was such a long wait for a new patient visit, I don't even have a GP. The midwives called in the script for my Tamiflu.

charhar0820 · March 2020

@BusinessWife Yes she’s my Family doctor. If I don’t hear back from her I will just take it upon myself to find my own OB. Doctors here in Ontario are hard to come by so I can imagine it being the same with getting in with an OB? I’m not sure, I was just under the impression it’s up to my doctor to refer me. My doctor had had to refer me for basically everything. She mentioned where she wanted me to go, I’ll just have to research it and see if I can find the place to make the call myself.

Hard times for a first timer here with no idea what I’m doing lol

**update**
my doctor emailed me back to say she will be calling me Thursday at 4pm and will organize a referral for an OBGYN 😅

riatortillaxo · March 2020

@charhar0820 Yay!!! Happy about your update!

samsonator · March 2020

@fitandnerdy Do they usually not allow FaceTime during the scan? I hadn't even thought about that being a rule.
Fx that it's over by the 14th!

samsonator · March 2020

@cornichonmam oh no

hope he feels better soon and you don't get it

What supplies should we order??

[Deleted User] · March 2020

We should probably start a separate pp supplies thread, just bc that will come in handy later on regardless... I got a lot pads and depends type garments for heavy bleeding, that I ended up not needing bc of the C-section, tbh. And chux / puppy pads as well, that mostly I didn't end up needing (in case your water breaks in the car or you are laboring at home). You can get witch hazel to make padcicles and tucks and dermaplast spray, all of which was recommended to me, but then I literally needed none of it. 🤷

cornichonmam · March 2020

@samsonator Thanks, my husband is feeling better today and he had very mild symptoms, they only started on Friday. I'm pretty sure I've got it as I've started to feel unwell today, hopefully it will be equally as mild.

I'd order any clothes and maternity pillows etc. that you may have been holding out on buying, if they start closing non-essential stores (like they have here) you might not be able to get them for a while.

Annoyingly I have two maternity dresses that I was going to return but I'll probably have to keep them now. Luckily I sew and I have a lot of time on my hands so with a few alterations I might be able to make them work.

charhar0820 · March 2020

@BusinessWife - I like the idea of a list of PP items. Sadly I went on amazon today to find baby supplies, started looking for wipes and no luck sold out. So I just stopped because I’m already freaked out lol. I need lists to help me for when I can access the things I need to get, I’ll be somewhat prepared.

fitandnerdy · March 2020

@samsonator I was told no video/recordings because of “liability concerns” but I’ve also heard of some places loosening up that policy given the situation

[Deleted User] · March 2020

@charhar0820 I would just keep checking back periodically. I was able to get hand soap refills today, so that was cool, but if you look occasionally for a few key items then hopefully you'll start to get lucky. I was told that you can still get the honest company wipes directly from their website, but I'm not sure if that's still the case. I'm sorry it's all so extra stressful right now! But luckily, hopefully we'll have some time for things to get back to something a little more normal before our babies get here. ❤️

charhar0820 · March 2020

@BusinessWife I sure hope so! They did have estimated restock dates, which I could’ve purchased but I’d feel guilty knowing there are babies and children in the world who need it now. So for now I’ll wait.

sarah0985 · March 2020

@samsonator my h had to miss my daughters anatomy scan due to work and now this one. I asked if I could take any video and they told me no. They weren’t changing that policy 😑

cornichonmam · March 2020

@lachnessmomster I've had an update from school and thankfully they have been able to sort out vouchers for the free school meal pupils that they will be able to spend in the supermarkets.

lachnessmomster · March 2020

@cornichonmam That is wonderful news, and I am so emotionally unstable at the moment that it actually made me tear up a bit.

jwhite3116 · March 2020

Just wanted to check in. Our district cancelled school until April 13th with the notion that it could be extended. I'm trying to manage 150 freshman from home to ensure they don't tank their grades the last nine weeks of school. Most of them are doing well and I've told them how proud I am of them but some think they're on vacation. It's very stressful. Add that to the virus situation and I'm just trying not to have an anxiety attack. My youngest son had this weird cold for a few days then spiked a fever of 102, then it was over. No one else in our house is sick though but it definitely freaked me out. MH works with hotels so that's a scary place to be job wise right now. I still haven't heard from my interview as they're waiting to see if they have any openings for next year. We're just in limbo and it's weird and I'm trying not to think about it too much. Luckily MH has been letting me take so many naps and sleep in, it's been great. Just trying to hang in there.

coldlife · March 2020

The issue of hospitals forcing women to give brith alone is starting to gain attention in the news. Ashley Graham, the supermodel, had been sharing about it, as has one of The Bachelor contestants. There's a change.org petition with thousands of signatures.

Hopefully, this will soon be something none of us has to worry about.

I never thought it would come to this. It's like medical care of pregnant women is reverting back to what you see in Mad Men and the hospital births in Call the Midwife. All that matters is getting a baby out as fast and easy as possible for the doctors, and who cares about the mom.

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