I’m 39 weeks pregnant, living near Milan Italy and I’m gonna share with you my pregnancy experience during coronavirus pandemic situation.
Everything was planned for this pregnancy, except for the coronavirus pandemic situation.
The calm before the storm
So I was just gonna celebrate my last working week before going into maternity leave when the coronavirus situation appeared.
The company I work for, decided to make us work from home and I was quite happy since my 9 months belly didn’t fit in many office outfits anymore..
I figured I’ll go visit my colleagues in the next week and bring some homemade sweets in order to have a proper goodbye, since I’ll no longer see them for 6 months.
The week passed quickly, maternity leave arrived and I was so thrilled and ready to do a lot of things I planned for this last month before the baby arrives (check what’s in my hospital bag post and get the feeling of how excited I was).
I just received an email from corporate saying that also for the next week my colleagues will be working from home.
That was sad, I really wanted to have an italian goodbye with some hugs, happy wishes and pasticcini, but it is what it is.
At this moment I was still ignoring the virus and was super happy for the next phase of my life.
I was going to attend the last sessions of the pre natal trainings that I was taking for some months now, at the hospital where I’m gonna give birth.
Very excited as on these last sessions the husbands will participate and the medical personnel will explain us everything there is to know about labor & delivery.
We were just informed that the last sessions will be made via Skype because of the coronavirus. That was strange.. this was the moment I started document myself a bit about this virus.
The storm is here
At the beginning, no one really understood the gravity of the situation and we were just continuing doing our normal lives, under-evaluating the risks that this virus brings.
The opinions escalated quickly from: it’s not a real thing, it was invented by the chinese/americans/germans to manipulate us, it’s like a flu but a bit stronger, don’t worry, it’s not easy to get it, to: stay at home otherwise you can even end up in prison!
Whoaaa, what the … ?!?
Our lives changed over the night, everyone wears face masks and disposable gloves.
Italian people are staying at 2 m distance one from another!!! I mean.. this is really strange as you may have heard how intimate italians normally are.
Everyone is afraid, around 600 persons infected with this virus die daily and thousands others get infected. Many have very difficult respiratory problems, others no symptoms at all.
The hospitals are full and the medical personnel gets infected as well since protective equipments are missing.
Police and army are on the streets to make sure that we don’t leave the house and get infected.
Supermarkets are letting only few clients get in at the same time, to avoid mass infection and that causes looong waiting lines with people afraid that the supermarkets will close and will remain w/o food.
A lot of horrible fake news are spreading, like the ones that animals may give us this virus too and so, sadly a lot of dogs get abandoned.
It seems like a nightmare, my plans for this last month were completely ruined by the horrific ignored enemy called coronavirus.
I’m always closer to the delivery day and I’m scared that I’ll have to go in the hospital and may get the virus.
First news regarding pregnant women who delivered and have the virus arrive. Seems that the newborns are safe, they can be breastfed but the mothers have to pay very much attention to not transmit the virus.
Friends and family are worried for me, being pregnant in Italy during pandemic coronavirus and I don’t really know how to react anymore. It’s time to take positions.
The storm will pass
- I choose to not be afraid but don’t under estimate the power of this virus either
- I choose to trust the doctors whatever will happen
- I choose to stay at home and cherish my last pregnancy weeks together with my husband who would normally be at work, but thanks to this situation he is staying at home with us
- I choose to explain to everyone that they don’t have to worry for us because Italy is doing a great job in managing this crisis situation and we are in the safest place at the moment – right in the middle of the pandemic but also right in the middle of very professional medical structures and medical personnel who cares for their people
- I choose to not get upset because I can’t help others during this difficult time, and I choose to understand that by staying at home I actually do my part
- I choose to trust that everything is going to be ok and that we’ll return to normality asap and appreciate more what may have seemed a boring life
- I choose to not plan such in detail our life anymore, because I learned that everything can change in minutes and we’re capable of adapting to new dangerous situations in seconds
- I chose to have a baby and that involves raising him in this wicked world in the good and the bad
Yes, we may have to change our lifestyle in the next months.
No, I didn’t plan to raise my newborn exclusively at home in the first few months, I actually planned his delivery during spring time in order to be able to stay out, in the nature as much as possible, how ironical right? 🙂
But we’re human beings, we adapt.
So I choose to make the best out of this situation.
Having at home my husband, 24 hours/day, I didn’t even dare to plan, I knew my husband would have to go to work and will stay with us at home only a few days.
And this is only one of the positive things I can take out of this pandemic situation.
Our babies deserve a better world and maybe this virus will teach us to be more responsible & sustainable.
Giving a warm digital hug to all of the persons who suffered a loss caused by this virus 🙁 deeply sorry, my thoughts and prayers are with you..
And to all your soon to be mommas: stay positive, stay safe and remember that you can’t calm the storm but you can calm yourself, the storm will pass..
This post is meant to encourage pregnant women during coronavirus pandemic time. It’s hard to stay positive when everything seems so messed up, but we are warriors, we are superhumans and we’re not alone.
