Just a short time ago, I was mentally preparing to lose an hour for Daylight Savings Time, rearrange my work schedule because preschool was closing for spring break, and thinking of ways to entertain my toddler while dealing with pregnancy fatigue and other fun symptoms. In the span of a few days, I’m physically preparing for the possibility of needing to stay in my house for weeks and facing several weeks of no preschool at all. This is a weird year.
Since you clearly all have access to the internet, you know about the novel COVID-19 strain that is currently spreading across the world. As I’m writing this, more large events and gatherings are being cancelled. More colleges and universities are preparing to or have moved to online-only classes. More public schools are closing for several weeks. More people are buying all the bottled water for some reason. Y’all know the virus isn’t coming through our tap water, right? I mean, it only takes one person to run the entire Opelika water system, and they don’t have any plans to shut that off. And for the love of all things holy, PLEASE stop buying all the toilet paper! Stockpiling enough TP to last through your toddler’s high school graduation is only making the situation worse. Get what you need for the next several weeks or a month, and then keep your *hopefully washed* hands off the rest. I thought this would be common sense, but I guess not. And please excuse my sweet friend with eight children whose cart full of household products for a month probably does look like she’s stocking a Y2K bunker. Bless.
We’ve done our due diligence, buying extra non-perishable and frozen food here and there. Thankfully, we did our large paper product run at Sam’s a couple weeks ago before it got wiped out (pun intended). We are very fortunate that I already work from home, and my husband has the ability to on short notice if needed. We could easily shut ourselves in for a few weeks and be none the worse for wear financially. (Whether or not our marriage could survive it is TBD.) Unfortunately, that is not the case for vast numbers of people, and moms especially. Kids add another layer of fear to an already scary situation. It seems that this virus isn’t affecting children the way it is older people and those with compromised immune systems, but children are fan-freakin-tastic at germ spreading. Schools and daycares are basically ground zero for most colds and stomach bugs that end up knocking us on our butts for a few days.
This virus is different. I know I’m not yet out of my 20’s, but I can’t remember another time when this level of national shutdown was taking place. The only events that come close were the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. I was a kid myself then, it’s different now that I have them. I’m trying to make decisions for my family based on information that keeps changing. Small things, like how many diapers should we have on hand? Bigger things, like do I keep my daughter away from her friends? Is it wise to go to the playground or the park or playdates? And for myself: Do I keep going to the gym? Do I take more precautions because I’m pregnant than I would if I were not? Do I ask my husband to see if he can work from home for a couple of weeks? All of this is combining to send my anxiety through the roof. Too many decisions, too many unknowns.
So here is the strategy I’ve settled on for the foreseeable future based on all current recommendations.
- Stay home as much as possible. Use delivery and/or pickup services as much as our budget will allow and keep my toddler home in particular because she touches EVERYTHING. We plan to send only one adult to the grocery store or on critical errands at a time. My family in particular may not be at huge risk of severe complications from the virus (although we don’t know much about its effect on pregnant women and unborn children yet), but we know and love many older people and people with conditions that do put them at risk. Staying home helps protect them too.
- Limit contact points, wash hands like crazy, and use hand sanitizer if I can’t get to soap and water immediately. After the bathroom or changing diapers, before food prep and eating, when leaving a public place, when arriving home, etc. I’m a total germaphobe anyway, so this is nothing new, but I’m being extra vigilant. And yes, my hands are drying out and cracking. Whoops. I sing the ABCs with my toddler while we wash her hands, but I’m partial to Dolly Parton’s Jolene or Toto’s Africa. In my head of course, because neither of those songs is in my range. Okay, fine, basically no song is in my range because I don’t have one.
- Don’t get too close to people when I do have to leave the house. The current recommendation is to keep a distance of 6 feet. No hand shakes, high fives, fist bumps, or hugs. Exceptions include my toddler who has zero sense of personal space, my husband who I need to cuddle for comfort purposes, and my unborn baby who is fine directly on top of my bladder where he or she is currently camped out.
- Get my news from reputable sources and moderate my intake. Facebook comments and posts from your conspiracy theorist high school classmate don’t count. Check websites like the CDC, Alabama Department of Public Health, and other official government sources. It’s going to be tempting to live on social media and stay up on every little update, but an overload of scary news is not good for anyone’s mental health.
- Trust God. Regardless of the outcome of this mess, I am grateful for the nudge to pray more, read the bible more, and worship more. My faith has been strengthened a lot in the last few weeks from having to lean on God through various pregnancy issues entirely out of my control, and this is just another reminder that we live in a fallen and broken world. As much as it pains me, I’m not in charge of anything. Thankfully, I belong to the Creator of the whole universe who is. I’m keeping my focus on Him and my perspective eternal.
