Over the weekend of March 14-15, we were following the news closely. Covid-19, a coronavirus, was spreading rapidly across the country and things were closing down left and right. Eventually, we got the word that school would be closed until things improved. We were also under orders to quarantine and shelter in place in the bay area. We started school at home. The kids took home packets of work but without any kind of preparation, it was all a bit of a mess. It was difficult figuring out what they were expected to do, the Zoom meetings with their classes, and getting them motivated to work, especially after it was announced later on that all students would just be given credit for the semester instead of grades. Eli had daily journal assignments and I loved reading what he would come up with:
I sent that to Joe siblings to give them a hard time. :)
I loved this paper I found in his work too:
The boys loved having permission to play Just Dance for PE:
They went a bit crazy being cooped up so much and sure missed getting outside to play with their neighbor friends.
On Thursday, March 19, after feeling a bit achy and a weird shortness of breath, Joe decided to get test for Covid-19 just to make sure he didn't have it. The c-section was scheduled for 2 1/2 weeks away and he wanted to know before then. I'd heard tests were scarce so I was surprised they got him tested right away with minimal symptoms and no contact with anyone who had it. The next day, I drove myself to the hospital for a non-stress test and left Joe and the kids doing their work/homework at home. When I arrived at the hospital, they took my temperature and then I had to wear a mask because they asked if I'd had contact with anyone who was sick. I told them about Joe so I wore one just in case. It was hot and I was tired by the time I got up to the prenatal area when I took this picture to send to Joe:
They did the ultrasound first and the fluid looked good. Then they took my blood pressure and it was up a little bit which worried me, of course, but they said it might be due to the walk up there and they'd try again later. They did the monitoring and the baby looked good. Then they did another blood pressure and it was high again--I think even a little bit higher. The nurses there started asking about my history and I think that pushed them over the edge to decide to send me down to labor and delivery for more monitoring. At this point, I was getting upset because I knew that they wouldn't let Joe in the hospital without a negative result to his test and I had no idea how long that would take. I was standing at the desk giving them my information, crying with a mask on and snot getting everywhere. I was a mess. Right then, my doctor came around the corner in her scrubs. She must have been there for another delivery. She was surprised to see me and I explained what happened. I was able to tell her why I was upset. It was such a relief to see her and I was thankful for that small blessing. They got me in a room for monitoring and the blood pressures kept being a little bit high. They never got too bad but after considering my history and the fact that I was 37 weeks they decided that I shouldn't go home. In some ways we were relieved to have her come sooner because we'd been hearing horror stories about places where the virus was bad and hospitals were overcrowded and we wanted to give birth before that happened. Of course, the major downside was that Joe couldn't come in. I was feeling very panicked about that when I thought I should call Lisa to see if she could come. She was wonderful and left her family during a scary time to come right away when I called her. It was such a relief to see her because I was stuck in that monitoring room forever with hardly anyone checking on me and I was scared and lonely.
When she arrived:
Eventually, they moved me into a different room for the night. Lisa helped me pass the time by playing some Five Crowns, talking, and watching The Sun is Also a Star together. Joe did all he could to try and figure out a way to get his test result sooner. He tried to get another test with quicker results but nothing worked. We hoped that just maybe we'd find out in time but sadly, testing was so backed up that it would be 8 more days before we got the result. They prepped me for surgery that night, with the plan that I'd deliver the next morning, March 21st.
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