One morning I’m stressing about how hard all 3 of my jobs are getting because I’m getting so far along, the next morning I’m told I need to work from home and stay quarantined before the official quarantine started. I knew the coronavirus was serious, but I had no idea I would be needing to quarantine and stop working at my other two jobs. It just was not practical or safe for me to be exposing myself to multiple people’s homes and to sleeping over-night in a house where multiple other people are sleeping in the same spot. I assumed I was told to quarantine because of being pregnant and then the whole state was told to and the whole country – I was just in awe.
Being a germaphobe is already kind of my thing but after realizing the reality of how serious this is and being pregnant made me even more cautious. All I kept thinking was well if I go to my office, or do my overnight, or go pet sit, where have those people been? What if I sit on their couch and the germs crawl on me from when they went to the store and sat in the same spot without changing? What if I touch a doorknob that they just touched from leaving a gas station and I didn’t wash my hands?!
The fear of obsession would have consumed me had I not had just stopped working two of my jobs and worked from home at my full-time job. So many people were losing their jobs left and right, the thought of what if that happens to me while I’m pregnant was a constant thought as well. Already having to make the choice to stop two jobs caused me to stop saving any money and go back to just having just enough for bills and necessities. Just when your starting to get ahead of course everything falls ten steps backwards.
Trying to work, make calls, help with school work all while the neighbors dogs are constantly barking, someone is mowing their lawn almost every other hour of the days, the neighbors are building a pool – what’s that loud… oh it’s the neighbors cool car that they took the muffler off of just coming back or leaving. Let’s not forget I’m also the breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner lady. The dog needs to go out, eat, get attention, or bark at everything going on outside randomly. Then trying to get comfortable on the couch, at the kitchen table then to the other couch because let’s be real, there is truly no way to get comfortable when your 6-8 months pregnant trying to work on your computer, phone and getting up and down constantly all day no matter where you are – at the office, in your car or at home.
Having the same argument with our kiddo everyday about doing homework and not giving mom attitude because you wouldn’t do that to your teacher all while trying to help her understand – “if I’m home why do we have to do schoolwork like at school?” Let’s not forget needing to guide her through many school assignments, helping her answer questions and making sure she’s staying on task. Watching the news and catching up when you can so you know what’s going on but really then not watching the news because all it did was make me stress and have more anxiety. Let’s not forget trying to plan a baby shower that had to change 3 times before you finally decide to do a drive by baby shower. Like my emotions were HAYWIRE, especially with these hormones! Getting air out back for a second or going in the bathroom to cry for a few minutes became something that Happened sometimes once a day or once every three days. Let’s not forget we barely got to let our kids run off some energy because it rained most of the time.
March 14th until the end of the school year and beyond, having to homeschool while working from home on top of trying to maintain my pregnancy hormones and comfortability was an experience, I’ll never forget that really tested my patience but made it better. Trying to explain to our daughter we can’t go to Urban Air or go to the store made her have a new outlook on life. She got to the point of telling me that we can’t go in anywhere and if we do, “Mom do not forget the masks, I do not want either of us to get the corona virus especially you and the baby”. That was a whole other level of concern and care that an 8-year-old should not have to worry about!
Needless to say, the up and down emotional roller coaster we went through together was something that made me, my daughter and her dad all stronger in the end. He was still able to work and worked endless hours day in and day out to help cover the losses we had endured which was a blessing that he could work but so hard for all of us to be apart so much. We barely got to see him which was something we had to learn to cope with because it was just a new normal for all of us. We all had to have a new normal for a while. I was so thankful for this time I got to spend with her constantly for months before her baby sister is born. Not to mention the really good routine we got in; the time we got take to learn how to shower like a big girl all on her own. Learning how to maintain a chore chart every day, preparing to help more for when her sister comes.
This was a wonderful opportunity to help with the growth and changes of a little girl turning into a big girl. Not only that, I got to see our daughter care for me in ways that just showed such a big change, telling me I need to rest and take a break, asking me if she can get me water or rub my feet, catching things I’ve told her to do or not to do 100’s of times and apologizing and correcting it before I could say anything. This time brought us even closer than before and caused her to really grow up. Also, the baby shower was a huge success and could not have been ANY BETTER. This pregnancy during a pandemic really was an experience to remember and something that actually had some really positive things come from it with my family and me. Although I sympathize and know this is not a good thing for many people, it was something that made me realize you need to always try to see the positive somewhere because there always is a bright light in the darkness of any situation.
About the Author
My name is Ariel Lewis, I am 28 years old, my fiancé is 29 years old, we have an 8-year-old daughter and a newborn baby on the way. I graduated from Drury University in 2018 with a bachelor’s in business administration. I work as a marketing specialist for Mid-West Family Marketing full-time, a Life Skills Trainer for Easy Living part-time two nights a week, and 417 Pet Sitting part-time. I also own an event coordinating and planning company called Amoreley Events that I do as a passion of mine. I have worked with events for 10 years now. My dream is to work events full-time and own an event venue someday. In my free-time I love spending time with my family and traveling to see more family and down to Eureka Springs any chance we get.
