Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Pregnancy and Pandemic

I appreciate the previous comments on my last post. I haven't been on here much since my last post. It's been weird dealing with my body's changes. I didn't think it would be this difficult.

It's probably made worse by this COVID pandemic. My midwife urged me to stop working early since my job includes being in close proximity to my patients and the hospital where I plan to deliver has strong restrictions for sick people right now.

I just sit around at home and eat. Most days I can at least motivate myself to walk the dogs and clean the house a little.

The weather has been cold and windy most days so it sucks for going outside.

And today we have a clogged sewer line causing water to back up into our basement, so for today, cleaning is out the window.

The pandemic put our remodeling project on hold (no one wants to go into other people's houses) so I can't get the baby's room ready.

And all the birthing websites talk about how now is the time to "pamper" myself by taking a "babymoon," getting a haircut, a massage, a pedicure, etc.... None of which I can do, because all of those businesses are closed due to the virus.

So I just sit at home inside my own head. I should take the opportunity to exercise like crazy. Supposed to help baby come out faster anyway. But I've been feeling super down and it's so hard to motivate myself to do anything.

My goal for only gaining 15 lbs disappeared at the start of the pandemic. I was doing okay until the beginning of March. I've already gained 25 lbs in total (about half of that in the past 7 weeks), and I have perhaps 2 or more weeks to go. I'm hoping baby shows up early. I know that's rare for a first, but it would be really nice to get baby out of me.

I know 25 lbs is not record-breaking weight gain for a pregnancy, many women gain much more, but I was hoping I wouldn't. Feels like failure.

They say the ninth month of pregnancy is the longest month ever, but I would argue it's MUCH longer when the whole country is at a standstill.