Where is this on the manual?
After my trip with my friends, the spotting stopped, and the morning sickness did too. I thought I was starting to get the hang of pregnancy. February came and went. February was also a painful month because my family dog of 13 years passed away suddenly, and we were devastated. But that month we also found out we were having a girl. I felt many emotions that month and also started to feel a little nervous about this so-called "COVID-19." It was starting to come to the U.S., but we were all still living a maskless life. I even went to an Il Volo concert with my husband on March 7 in Coachella. The next day, we heard a new COVID case in Palm Desert, just a few cities away from where we stayed at. That's when things started to get serious.
That week we started working from home, at that time they told us it was only for 2 weeks. I was planning my baby shower at the place where we had our wedding reception. My mother-in-law called me stating that they were canceling all events until May or June. I was definitely upset, to the point where I cried. Blame it on my hormones or nervousness, but I was just very upset about everything that was going on. Working from home quickly turned into working from home until further notice. News outlets on every channel talking about more cases and the stay-at-home order. It quickly turned overwhelming for me.
Being a first-time mom, quickly losing all normalcy and anxiety going up. I did not step a foot out for an entire month, not even to my backyard. That is not healthy for anyone, even during COVID. I was starting to get paranoid because I was thinking about my baby and myself. I was afraid to get COVID and lose everything that I had prayed for. Anxiety came, and I couldn't take it anymore. I knew I had to get therapy, and I am so glad I did. Therapy is such a wonderful thing to do for yourself. It's a form of self-care for me! I am not ashamed to receive therapy. I got lucky enough to get a great therapist. She has helped me so much. After a year, I am still in therapy and proud of it. I have definitely have come a long way, and I don't think I want to stop any time soon. It helps me put things into perspective, and I think it makes me a better mother. Pregnancy during COVID was not the ideal pregnancy that I wish I had. Pregnancy is hard in itself; add a pandemic to it, it's to another level. It was definitely not in the book. It was not in the manual. We need the " What to expect when you're expecting "pandemic edition.