My high risk pregnancy during the Covid 19 Pandemic...
This isn’t your normal travel article today. As much as I would have liked to write you coming back from another whirlwind adventure, I am writing to you about another adventure; one that I felt is very important for all the women out there who are expecting (like me!).
I am sitting here at my home on a Monday night in Los Angeles, thinking about all the craziness that is happening in our world and what it’s like to be pregnant with twins during a national pandemic. I wanted to jump on here and share my thoughts and feelings with you guys. I really hope that I could reach another person going through the same motions as me. This past month has been the hardest month of pregnancy for me, filled with extreme highs to extreme lows. Panic and anxiety, at times, seem to take over my mind and as much as one can fill their days with online yoga and meditation classes, the worry warts always seem to make an unpleasant return.
Ever since the spread of COVID-19 spurred L.A. to go into a “shelter in place” order, fully-loaded questions pop up in my head such as “What if I get the sickness?” “Will it affect my babies?” I can barely breathe as it is and this is a virus that attacks the lungs, how much more can I worry? I have to admit, in the beginning, my OB and many other doctors were clueless about what the sickness looked like in pregnant women. There was little to no research on the effects of COVID-19 on pregnant women and what truly happens if it hits high-risk pregnant women with twins! Oh the horror! The sickness had just started to rear it’s ugly head and the number of deaths continued to rise. I can’t tell you how many nights I would wake up with a panic attack, shortness of breath, thinking I was the next victim of an unseen killer. My friends would tell me, “Try to meditate! Go on walks! “ and although I have been good to my body throughout this quarantine, it doesn’t make it any easier. Then I found out that the hospital where I will be delivering wasn’t allowing birth partners into the post recovery area until the virus had settled. AHHHHH! I felt like my world came crashing down and there was no bright light at the end of the tunnel, no happy ending to all of this.
Now that April is coming to an end, and it seemingly feels like we are out of the worst of it, my anxiety has leveled down a bit and I am feeling more hopeful than I did 6 weeks ago. There has been a lot more research done on pregnant women with children and finding out that the virus is unlikely spread to your newborn babies and out of a study conducted in a NYC hospital, many pregnant women who turned out to have the sickness, didn’t even display any symptoms. When I heard this news recently, I let a little weight roll off my shoulders and told myself, “It will be ok.” I heard even better news on 4/19; my hospital is now allow birthing partners in both delivery and postpartum recovery. I’m feeling a bit easier now.
We still have a long way to go and the end of the road is still far away, but I know that many pregnant women around the globe right now are sharing the same anxieties, frustrations, and feelings that I am, hence my reasoning behind this article. It’s taken me a long time to sit down and write all of this out and honestly, I have looked for other women’s articles on this subject but they are few and far between. I am here to say today that we are not alone in this uphill battle and I know there are sunny days ahead. For now, what’s been helping me get thru the madness, are three main topics:
Don’t watch the media!- I know it is so hard to stay away from the news channels reporting daily about the spread of the virus but honestly, I think a lot of the information about the death tolls, how fast it is spreading, is just out to scare us. We have to remember that news outlets rely on numbers so the more they are scaring us, the higher the ratings. It is my personal belief to read the news through an online source rather than watching it on TV. Trust me, it will help you sleep easier at night!!!
Go for walks and get the body moving- I have found that to keep some peace of mind in this crisis, going on long walks in my neighborhood has really toned down my anxiety. It has been lovely reconnecting with my husband when we go on walks and it’s of utmost importance during pregnancy to keep the body moving which is great for the babies (especially since I can’t seem to cut my wild cravings of ice cream at night lol)
Writing in a journal- I will admit this has been hard for me to do as well. I often find myself lazy and not feeling inspired to write during this time but honestly, it’s good for the mind, body, and soul. Journaling my pregnancy has been rewarding because it’s an insight I can share with my children when they grow up. What a time to be alive!