Hey everyone!
Well... can I just say that life is crazy right now?! I feel so physically and emotionally drained... Let me explain.
A staff member at my school got tested for COVID-19 last weekend, and got a positive result. So of course it was a hot topic at school on Wednesday, November 18. Everyone was abuzz talking about what was going to happen. “Would they shut the school down? Would some classes have to isolate? Did other people get it?” Just a few examples of the MANY things brought up in conversation that day.
By lunch time, nothing had happened so I figured it would just blow over. Wish I could say I was right.
At the beginning of 4th period (when I happen to have a spare) the principal announced that the secondary staff should check their emails before they start their class.
I just kind of shrugged it off. I mean if it was important, someone would come tell me about it, right?
The other two girls that are also on spare with me went down to ask the principal what the big announcement was. In the meantime, I just sat down, opened my laptop, and began to work on a project that was due in a couple days.
The girls came back, started packing their bags and said, “We need to go.”
Super confused, I replied, “What do you mean? Go where?”
All grade 10 and grade 12 students were being sent home for a two week isolation period (starting the countdown from the last time we would have had exposure with the staff member, which would have been Friday, November 13).
I sat there, kind of stunned, (deer in the head lights anyone?) and after running the words through my processor a few times, finally understood what they said.
I packed my homework back up into my bag, and made my way to my locker.
“Isolation? Again?” I had already done a 2 week isolation period in March with my boyfriend and his family, so it’s not like I had no idea what that meant. (I was in the US with his family visiting relatives when they started making it mandatory.)
And to be honest, me having to isolate wasn’t even the big problem for me at the time.
My mom was already 3 days overdue with a baby.
Because she has always had home births, and since the plan for this baby coming any day was another home birth, I knew that this was going to be slightly problematic.
More than likely, the midwives would not come if there was someone in self isolation in my home.
And, if I had to isolate for about 2 weeks, I wouldn’t be able to help my mom out (which she needed more than ever at that point!) and I wouldn’t get to hold or meet my newest little sibling on day 1.
In the meantime, I brought my boyfriend’s brother home from school (because he was also in a grade that was getting sent home), and tried to just keep it together.
I didn’t want to cry.
I dropped him off, and his mom offered for me to come stay there if need be.
I thanked her, told her I’d let her know, and drove around the corner to my house.
I walked into the house and kept my mask on (you know, just in case), and put my overloaded school bag on the laundry room floor. I washed my hands and went to find my mom. She was in the office with dad.
We made eye contact, and I tried so hard to not get teary eyed.
Maybe this sounds dramatic, but it was already a stressful time of life to begin with, never mind having to isolate and not even be able to do it at home because otherwise that messes other things up.
“This sucks,” is what we both said, not knowing what to say about it.
She talked on the phone with my boyfriend’s mom for a bit while I packed my bags upstairs in my room. (I think I need to write a post about last minute packing... definitely learned a few things about what is and isn’t a necessity in the past few days...).
Long story short, my parents decided that it would be best for me to isolate at my boyfriend’s family’s house so that my mom could still have her home birth and other things could go on as planned.
That night, shortly after I had gotten into bed, my mom texted me screenshots of an email that she had gotten from the school, saying that instead of direct contact, they were classifying it as “casual contact”, so we didn’t have to isolate, we just had to self monitor. “Maybe you can come home?” she said.
Since I was already tucked in my bed, I said that I would come home the next morning after her midwife appointment so that she could make sure it would be all good.
Midwives advised that I stayed where I was for a bit, because Mom and baby would be at risk, and it could also affect other mothers and babies that they care for.
Basically, we would just take it as it came and see what happens.
Self monitoring wasn’t so bad anyways. I could still go places and it wasn’t a big deal.
But then...
We got another email from the school, this one specifying classes that needed to go into isolation till the 27th because a classmate had received a positive test result.
Slam. Back to isolation I go.
My brother was in one of the classes listed as well, so he ended up at my grandparent’s house.
My family had been torn apart.
Staying home was not an option.
I can just imagine how stressed out my mom was. For as stressed out and upset I was, she was probably twice as stressed out and upset.
And let’s be real, I don’t think any pregnant/overdue woman wants to deal with that kind of stress or anxiety.
I’ve cried into my borrowed pillow a few times. I just can’t quite figure out how to process everything I’m feeling.
Everything just came all at once.
I’m sure she’s shed some tears over it too.
No mother likes to see her family pulled in all different directions (and apart). But she couldn’t do anything about it.
Nothing about our situation right now is fun.
I haven’t been eating or sleeping very well. (Ps... it’s the “I’m tired but I can’t sleep” me writing right now.)
I’m not asking for you to feel bad for me... but if you could please please please pray for me and my family, especially my mom (who is 8 days overdue as I post this), that would be appreciated.
Also, if you could write me some encouragement in the comment section down below or send me an email, that would be SO appreciated ❤️ I really need it right now, in regards to this and other daily life struggles and battles that I currently face.
I will be announcing when my newest little sibling decides to make an appearance. 💗👶🏼💙
Thanks again for all your prayers and support.
~Abbey