MY DRAMATIC PANDEMIC PREGNANCY (pt. 1)

By: Janet in Washington DC

   

    In February 2020 I found out that I was pregnant, at that time I was (1) working full time, (2) in my final year of law school and (3) moving into a new apartment. This was just before the pandemic really hit the Western Hemisphere. I’m not going to lie, once I found out that I was pregnant, I panicked, I thought my life was going to be over, that I wouldn’t be a good mother, I wondered if I’d be able to finish law school as scheduled and have a career, and what would happen to my travel plans. But above all, I was not looking forward to telling my mom that I was pregnant. Why you ask? Well that’s a story for another day..

 

    Anyways, when I found out that I was pregnant, I felt normal, meaning I did not experience morning sickness or weird cravings. When the pandemic hit in March 2020 I started to feel extremely nauseous! Luckily, at that time employers initiated the work from home setting, as you can imagine, I was extremely happy. It was as if god was looking over me and my little one, because as soon as I started working from home, my morning sickness kicked in. I became extremely sick and wasn't able to keep anything down, no liquids no solids. I went to my OB/GYN and she prescribed me medication to deal with my morning sickness. But, I was extremely lucky that I could work from home, which really meant working from my bed. I would lay in bed the entire day, with my laptop on my lap and Netflix on my TV, I would plan my naps in my calendar, so that I could rest and catch my breath.  

Throughout my entire pregnancy, and I kid you not, till the last day of my pregnancy, I-was-sick! So much so that I actually lost weight, rather than gained weight, that’s how bad it was. I eventually was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum.

    In my first trimester, I was three months pregnant, my dad past away from a lung embolism. I had spoken to him a week or two before he passed away, I told him that I was pregnant and that I was due around his birthday. As I told him I felt that he was happy but sad at the same time, as if he knew he wasn't going to be around. His birthday was October 21, my due date was October 25. Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to meet his grandchild. Like I mentioned, I was three months pregnant and  experiencing severe morning sickness; and now I had to travel to Amsterdam, the Netherlands in the middle of a pandemic, to pay my final respects to my dad. As soon as I heard the news of his passing, I booked  the first ticket I could find online for a direct flight, only to find out that I had been scammed. This website charged my card $2500.-- for a direct flight from DC to Amsterdam, leaving the next day, only I never received that ticket, at approx. 6pm I realized it was a scam. In my rush to leave, I did not properly do my research. Due to all of the travel restrictions globally, there weren’t any direct flights from DC to Amsterdam, it took me a total of 16hrs to get there, as apposed to 8 1/2hrs. I had a 6hr lay over in Boston, which was unbearable with my nausea, and to add fuel to the fire all of the shops were closed, so there was literally nothing to do at the airport! I ended up trying to sleep on a bench in the food court. 

    But, I made it to Amsterdam safe and sound, and I ended up staying there for about a month. During that month I had 4 law school finals, I was working full time (from 3pm to 11:30pm), attended classes from 12am to 3am,  and I was dealing with the death of my father (funeral and all the Hindu-services). Even though it sounds like I had a lot going on at once, had it not been for the Corona virus, I probably would not have been able to do all of this! 

    My mom cared for me my whole stay, and honestly it's so underrated how valuable it is to have your mom or family caring for you when you’re not feeling well, especially during pregnancy. I miss this a lot as I live so far away from my family. Even though I had to travel back to Amsterdam because of the death of my father, I truly enjoyed the time I spent with my family and friends. My cousins even threw me a impromptu baby-shower and a gender reveal while I was there. I really cherish my family, they are irreplaceable. 

    Once I returned to the US, my life continued along with all the covid-19  restrictions. For example, the OB/GYN visits were so isolated. My husband was not allowed to come in at all, this meant that he was not able to see any of the ultrasounds nor was he able to ask my OB/GYN any question related to the pregnancy. Those joyous moments that you see in the movies: a couple hearing their baby's heart-beat for the first time or seeing their baby on the ultra sound, were taken from us due to the pandemic. I was allowed to facetime my husband during the ultrasound appointments, but it honestly took away from the moment. The moments that we were supposed to share together were deprived from us and I honestly felt very alone during these appointments. It gave me the feeling that I was having the baby by myself. 

    Things were going good once I was back in Washington DC. I found out I aced all my finals, I was still doing very well at work, my due date was approaching fast and even though I continued to loose weight, surprisingly baby was growing well and she was healthy. As many other women, I wanted my mom to be with me on my due date. But with me living in DC, mom being in Amsterdam, the very active pandemic and all the travel restrictions, it wasn't that easy for me to get my mom over here. After several rejections from the US Embassy, my doctor was able to get my mom permission to travel to DC to help take care of me and the baby. I was due on October 25, 2020 and my mom's was going to arrive on October 15. 

It was finally October 15 and I couldn't wait to pick up my mom at the airport and see her react to my almost due belly. But I guess it wasn't meant to be, because I got a call in the middle of the night that something went wrong with the approval and that my mom's access to board the plane in Amsterdam has been denied.  Apparently the US Immigration did not receive the special approval from the US Embassy. I argued with airport staff for hours to no avail, my mom was not coming! 

To be continued.. Stick around to find out what happens next! In the meantime, let me know if you had any drama during your pregnancy because of the pandemic, in the comments below.

I hear crying, gotta run!