How is everyone holding up?

[sdlaura]

What’s your current situation? Totally self isolating or more social distancing? Everything closed where you are or some things open?

[danib]

We're more social distancing. I saw my OB today and she said while isolation is what's recommended, this is going to last month's and no one's mental health will survive total isolation for that long. I'm limiting our interactions to family, no friend play dates and no going to unnecessary places.
Schools and daycares are closed indefinitely (they're saying prepare for the rest of the school year), theatres are closed, malls are technically opened but most of the stores in the mall are closed. Restaurants are either closed or doing take out only. Liquor stores are closed to the public but you can call in your order and pick it up at the door. Grocery stores are open but limiting how many can goo in at a time and have a dedicated hour for elderly and high-risk people.
Our hospital is limiting access to urgent /necessary appointments only. No visitors allowed. Even turning away dad's from joining OB appointments and ultrasounds. They are allowing 1 support person for labour/delivery but no switching out. So no one will be able to see baby after he is born except DH.
I'm doing ok. Stressing at times. But mostly ok.

[trtlcrzy]

I’m doing fine, it’s honestly business as usual here except the kids aren’t going to school. DH goes to work every day and I still go to work for my shifts. We stay home a lot in the winter so I don’t feel that much of a change at this point. We did venture out yesterday to get free lunches for the kids from one of the elementary schools and then today we went through the Starbucks drive thru because I needed coffee.

Lots of things are closed here, including the mall or they have reduced hours. We haven’t seen any friends or family since last Tuesday. I was texting a friend of mine and we will probably go hang out with them sometime next week. When it’s nice outside then we go out and play in the yard.

[txaggie08]

I got sent to work from home on Monday afternoon, but my employer is not set up for this, so I've already had to go into the office once this week to do stuff on my work desktop (get there at 7 and leave by 9 before it gets crowded).

DH's work just approved work from home for some employees, including him, starting tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure how that's going to work, but it will be nice to have another person to talk to at lunch. I'm pretty sure the dog is already annoyed that I've interrupted his day long naps.

DD's school is closed, but daycare is open for now. She and DS will be there until they close so that DH and I can work. I'm trying not to use any of my vacation/sick leave so I have some money coming in during my maternity leave this summer, so I'm hoping the state doesn't close daycares. This afternoon the governor issued a statement closing all restaurants (dine-in), bars, gyms, and schools through April 3, so hopefully that slows the spread in Texas instead of relying on individual communities to make that decision.

We're trying to limit going anywhere other than walks around the neighborhood. I'm nervous about this weekend - it's supposed to be cold and rainy and my children don't do well stuck inside all day.

[sdlaura]

trtlcrzy I'm jealous that this isn't a big change for you. Every single thing in our lives has been turned upside down in the past week!

No school, no daycare, no going to work (both DH and I now required to work remotely), insane stock market which makes work crazier than usual for both DH and me and he may lose his job, no contact with anyone (even though "shelter in place" hasn't yet been mandated for SoCal, that's how everyone is living, plus we don't want to infect my parents so we aren't going within 6 feet of anyone). Plus it has been rainy here which is not what we're used to in San Diego, so it's made it harder to play outside.

ETA - we now have an official shelter in place order here. I guess it’s good that it won’t mean a change to our behavior!

[trtlcrzy]

Mar 19, 2020 15:00:18 GMT -6 txaggie08 said:

I got sent to work from home on Monday afternoon, but my employer is not set up for this, so I've already had to go into the office once this week to do stuff on my work desktop (get there at 7 and leave by 9 before it gets crowded).

DH's work just approved work from home for some employees, including him, starting tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure how that's going to work, but it will be nice to have another person to talk to at lunch. I'm pretty sure the dog is already annoyed that I've interrupted his day long naps.

DD's school is closed, but daycare is open for now. She and DS will be there until they close so that DH and I can work. I'm trying not to use any of my vacation/sick leave so I have some money coming in during my maternity leave this summer, so I'm hoping the state doesn't close daycares. This afternoon the governor issued a statement closing all restaurants (dine-in), bars, gyms, and schools through April 3, so hopefully that slows the spread in Texas instead of relying on individual communities to make that decision.

We're trying to limit going anywhere other than walks around the neighborhood. I'm nervous about this weekend - it's supposed to be cold and rainy and my children don't do well stuck inside all day.

I don’t know where you are in tx, but my friend’s parents own a small burger joint in Mount Pleasant called Mt. Pleasant Burgers and Fries. They are doing a drive in type system right now if you want to support local.

[trtlcrzy]

Mar 19, 2020 15:37:09 GMT -6 sdlaura said:

trtlcrzy I'm jealous that this isn't a big change for you. Every single thing in our lives has been turned upside down in the past week!

No school, no daycare, no going to work (both DH and I now required to work remotely), insane stock market which makes work crazier than usual for both DH and me and he may lose his job, no contact with anyone (even though "shelter in place" hasn't yet been mandated for SoCal, that's how everyone is living, plus we don't want to infect my parents so we aren't going within 6 feet of anyone). Plus it has been rainy here which is not what we're used to in San Diego, so it's made it harder to play outside.

Yeah, I feel bad for you and others like you. Being a SAHM has a little bit of an advantage to this situation. I work at the hospital part time and clearly thats not going to be closing down. DH delivers for UPS but said that deliveries are starting to slow down so he might not get to work full time next week.

[txaggie08]

Mar 19, 2020 15:46:57 GMT -6 trtlcrzy said:

Mar 19, 2020 15:00:18 GMT -6 txaggie08 said:

I got sent to work from home on Monday afternoon, but my employer is not set up for this, so I've already had to go into the office once this week to do stuff on my work desktop (get there at 7 and leave by 9 before it gets crowded).

DH's work just approved work from home for some employees, including him, starting tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure how that's going to work, but it will be nice to have another person to talk to at lunch. I'm pretty sure the dog is already annoyed that I've interrupted his day long naps.

DD's school is closed, but daycare is open for now. She and DS will be there until they close so that DH and I can work. I'm trying not to use any of my vacation/sick leave so I have some money coming in during my maternity leave this summer, so I'm hoping the state doesn't close daycares. This afternoon the governor issued a statement closing all restaurants (dine-in), bars, gyms, and schools through April 3, so hopefully that slows the spread in Texas instead of relying on individual communities to make that decision.

We're trying to limit going anywhere other than walks around the neighborhood. I'm nervous about this weekend - it's supposed to be cold and rainy and my children don't do well stuck inside all day.

I don’t know where you are in tx, but my friend’s parents own a small burger joint in Mount Pleasant called Mt. Pleasant Burgers and Fries. They are doing a drive in type system right now if you want to support local.

That's super far from me, but we're definitely doing our part to support our favorite small restaurants around here. DH cooks well, but he wants a break every now and then.

[Radley]

I stay at home with the kids for the most part. I do have a wedding I am supposed to shoot the first weekend in April so I’m nervous it’ll be cancelled. H works in a small factory as the shift supervisor and they don’t have many men on each shift. Maybe 10? So they are still running currently, but if orders quit coming in, their hours will be cut or they have to shut down which is nearly making me panic at the thought.
We homeschool so our daily life isn’t that different. Our weekends were supposed to have parties and such but they were all cancelled and my son’s OT and Speech center was closed today so there won’t be any of that for awhile. Pretty much everything is closed or take out/delivery only. Which is fine by me. I am a SAH, homeschool mom, we don’t socialize daily anyway.

[magaroni]

My kids are loving it. I talked to the manager of my urgent care yesterday and he basically told me they didn’t care if I was pregnant. I needed to wash my hands and wear a mask. They also have me and the urgent care/ER providers as part of the process for medically screening patients who answer yes to any of the COVID screening questions. I told him I would not be participating in that unless the ER doc was someone who was higher risk. Luckily my supervising doc is amazing. He called me today to tell me to stay home Sunday and he will call me at the beginning of next week to discuss how we will proceed since I don’t work again until Wednesday. I understand we need all the health care providers we can get but I don’t think putting me out as someone who has to do the medical screening on potential COVID cases is acceptable either.

[danib]

Rant.
Our province just confirmed our 4th case. All 4 cases have been related to travel, no known community spread yet. Anyway people are actually going bananas here. They're paying just enough attention to know "two week isolation" and "flatten the curve", but not enough attention to understand that flatten the curve doesn't mean people won't get sick but that they will just get sick over a longer period of time so as not to overwhelm our health system. They literally think that everyone can just 100% stay inside for 2 weeks and if we do it will all go away. I just had an argument with DH's family trying to explain that this isn't possible (even my doctor says the same) because essential workers still need to work and will be exposed to many people that way, people still need to buy food and medicine, people still need to go to appointments, I personally have to attend multiple appointments at the hospital and my kids need to be cared for while I'm there so we are exposed to everyone I come in contact with at the hospital plus my mom who is babysitting the boys plus everyone she comes into contact with as an essential worker. Apparently I'm just not tryingg hard enough and it's totes possible to not be exposed to a single person for weeks. And "the longer people don't listen the longer this will last". Which no, we are in this for the long haul, we can't stop it, we want to slow it down.

[fikafairy]

So everything has been upended for me and just about nothing for H. His workplace is staying open (manufacturing), even though the governor here mandated all unnecessary businesses close. They did what I think are some stretchy mental gymnastics to justify staying open, and I'm not that happy about it. I am now WFH indefinitely until schools/daycare opens back up again, as both are closed at LEAST through next Friday. I'm not optimistic that we will actually go back March 30, I think it will be after Easter. All of my MFM appts stay the same because I have to be monitored on a weekly basis, but I have to act otherwise as if I am in the highest risk group since the infusion I get has the impact of altering my immune system.

I've been trying to help DS with some reading and math things instead of just letting him watch netflix all day, but I still have to work and I'm absolutely exhausted.

[txaggie08]

Radley DH has similar fears about the plant where he works closing due to lack of orders. He said he's heard that everyone would not be paid, even those who could still do some work (customer service, engineering, etc.). I'm nervous about it, but trying to to stress because it's out of our hands - I can't make people order these machines.

[danib]

fikafairy my school district put out a statement that every K-9 student would graduate regardless of if/when school reopens this year (there was further information about coming up with a plan for high school students, exams, etc but I didn't read that part as it doesn't effect my family), which makes me think we are definitely closed until school starts up again in September and they just don't want to announce it yet.

[fikafairy]

danib yeah I don’t think we are going back this year either. After Easter is way too optimistic and my district is still pretending that March 30 is a thing.

So I’m basically WFH until baby arrives and then off until August with a likely also immunocompromised baby. So I’m basically in isolation until then I think 😑

[sdlaura]

Mar 20, 2020 14:01:08 GMT -6 danib said:

Rant.
Our province just confirmed our 4th case. All 4 cases have been related to travel, no known community spread yet. Anyway people are actually going bananas here. They're paying just enough attention to know "two week isolation" and "flatten the curve", but not enough attention to understand that flatten the curve doesn't mean people won't get sick but that they will just get sick over a longer period of time so as not to overwhelm our health system. They literally think that everyone can just 100% stay inside for 2 weeks and if we do it will all go away. I just had an argument with DH's family trying to explain that this isn't possible (even my doctor says the same) because essential workers still need to work and will be exposed to many people that way, people still need to buy food and medicine, people still need to go to appointments, I personally have to attend multiple appointments at the hospital and my kids need to be cared for while I'm there so we are exposed to everyone I come in contact with at the hospital plus my mom who is babysitting the boys plus everyone she comes into contact with as an essential worker. Apparently I'm just not tryingg hard enough and it's totes possible to not be exposed to a single person for weeks. And "the longer people don't listen the longer this will last". Which no, we are in this for the long haul, we can't stop it, we want to slow it down.

danib, I had a similar opinion as you last Friday/Saturday.  I was annoyed at first at all the people who immediately went from social distancing to total self-isolation and was thinking "wow, it must be nice to not have to work so that you don't have to involve caregivers, to not have little kids that need to get out of the house, and not have to leave your big fancy house with a pool and playground in the backyard." I told DH how I couldn't stand to hear "flatten the curve" just one more time.

But my opinion changed very quickly (and I think that was the case for a lot of people in California) as it became clear that even if the only initial cases were from travel, it was already spreading in the community. I hope that's not the case for your area, but I think it has happened that way in most places. By Monday we had also switched to total self-isolating.

I agree with you that everyone will have to still buy groceries and go to the doctor. But even in our lockdown state, those things are still allowable. We're limiting ourselves to one set of caregivers (my parents) who are also self-isolating. I've been to the grocery store once and Target once this week, at non-busy times and without kids. I wipe down the cart, stay 6 feet from everyone there, sanitize my hands before getting back into the car, and wash my hands and the reusable bags when I get home. I did the same at my one OB appointment. If I were you, I would try to combine your multiple hospital appointments, or get them in ASAP before the community spread goes further. What kind of essential worker is your mom? Do you have any option for childcare from someone who isn't in contact with a lot of other people?

Again, I really hope the trajectory is different for your region than it has been here. But I think everyone has been hoping that for their areas, and it doesn't seem to be happening. Things are intensifying fast. 

[danib]

Mar 20, 2020 16:28:44 GMT -6 sdlaura said:

Mar 20, 2020 14:01:08 GMT -6 danib said:

Rant.
Our province just confirmed our 4th case. All 4 cases have been related to travel, no known community spread yet. Anyway people are actually going bananas here. They're paying just enough attention to know "two week isolation" and "flatten the curve", but not enough attention to understand that flatten the curve doesn't mean people won't get sick but that they will just get sick over a longer period of time so as not to overwhelm our health system. They literally think that everyone can just 100% stay inside for 2 weeks and if we do it will all go away. I just had an argument with DH's family trying to explain that this isn't possible (even my doctor says the same) because essential workers still need to work and will be exposed to many people that way, people still need to buy food and medicine, people still need to go to appointments, I personally have to attend multiple appointments at the hospital and my kids need to be cared for while I'm there so we are exposed to everyone I come in contact with at the hospital plus my mom who is babysitting the boys plus everyone she comes into contact with as an essential worker. Apparently I'm just not tryingg hard enough and it's totes possible to not be exposed to a single person for weeks. And "the longer people don't listen the longer this will last". Which no, we are in this for the long haul, we can't stop it, we want to slow it down.

danib, I had a similar opinion as you last Friday/Saturday.  I was annoyed at first at all the people who immediately went from social distancing to total self-isolation and was thinking "wow, it must be nice to not have to work so that you don't have to involve caregivers, to not have little kids that need to get out of the house, and not have to leave your big fancy house with a pool and playground in the backyard." I told DH how I couldn't stand to hear "flatten the curve" just one more time.

But my opinion changed very quickly (and I think that was the case for a lot of people in California) as it became clear that even if the only initial cases were from travel, it was already spreading in the community. I hope that's not the case for your area, but I think it has happened that way in most places. By Monday we had also switched to total self-isolating.

I agree with you that everyone will have to still buy groceries and go to the doctor. But even in our lockdown state, those things are still allowable. We're limiting ourselves to one set of caregivers (my parents) who are also self-isolating. I've been to the grocery store once and Target once this week, at non-busy times and without kids. I wipe down the cart, stay 6 feet from everyone there, sanitize my hands before getting back into the car, and wash my hands and the reusable bags when I get home. I did the same at my one OB appointment. If I were you, I would try to combine your multiple hospital appointments, or get them in ASAP before the community spread goes further. What kind of essential worker is your mom? Do you have any option for childcare from someone who isn't in contact with a lot of other people?

Again, I really hope the trajectory is different for your region than it has been here. But I think everyone has been hoping that for their areas, and it doesn't seem to be happening. Things are intensifying fast. 

No I absolutely agree that there will be (likely already had been) community spread. It's naieve to think otherwise. Maybe in my irritation I didn't get my thoughts out clearly. It is essential to flatten the curve, that's how more people survive. But it doesn't mean this will be over in 2 weeks. My irritation is with the people who are shouting that if everyone 100% stays inside for 2 weeks this will all go away, because that's not how it works, 2 weeks is not the length of time it takes to disappear. And not understanding that is making these people have really unrealistic expectations and then blame other people for not isolating"enough". Trust me. Taking all the precautions I can, I'll last close to 2 weeks before needing groceries, and when I go I will be armed with wipes and sanitizer and practice distancing. I have multiple autoimmune diseases and a high risk pregnancy, my appointments are all considered essential and my hospital is basically on lockdown doing screening, cancelling all non-essential appointments, and not allowing visitors. My kids are not allowed to step foot inside the hospital so there's no other option but have someone babysit. So for someone to tell me "that's not good enough" and "100% isolation or else people will die" is absolute bullshit.

[Radley]

Mar 20, 2020 14:30:59 GMT -6 txaggie08 said:

Radley DH has similar fears about the plant where he works closing due to lack of orders. He said he's heard that everyone would not be paid, even those who could still do some work (customer service, engineering, etc.). I'm nervous about it, but trying to to stress because it's out of our hands - I can't make people order these machines.

I feel for you and your H. It’s really stressful. H was told today to basically expect the call any day. I have been baking to reduce stress.

[txaggie08]

Mar 20, 2020 18:03:56 GMT -6 Radley said:

Mar 20, 2020 14:30:59 GMT -6 txaggie08 said:

Radley DH has similar fears about the plant where he works closing due to lack of orders. He said he's heard that everyone would not be paid, even those who could still do some work (customer service, engineering, etc.). I'm nervous about it, but trying to to stress because it's out of our hands - I can't make people order these machines.

I feel for you and your H. It’s really stressful. H was told today to basically expect the call any day. I have been baking to reduce stress.

I've been walking the dog way more than he's used to. Luckily, he loves it.

[hangry]

I’m probably living somewhere between self isolating and social distancing. Though closer to isolating.
My life is upended. Kids are home from school/daycare. I’m off from work, though only because I started my maternity leave. If I was still at work, I wouldn’t be doing my regular job because I work in a hospital and they redirected my service. I wouldn’t be doing screening, but still working with patients. So now my job is homeschooling and SAHP. This is not normal or natural for me.

Most public places are closed. We normally have play dates, go to the park, meet people at the museum, go to the Y, classes. Not doing any of that now. The extent of getting out is daily walks around the neighbourhood and the occasional trip to the grocery store. My H just started working from home on Thursday so we’ll see how that goes.

There are 160 cases in my city, albeit a large city. But definitely community spread and likely to keep growing.

danib, I know in my experience, when people are yelling about self isolating and people not doing it, they are more referencing the kids that are playing basketball, or the 3 families you see socializing closely at the park, or people going out the restaurants (when that was possible), not people like yourself who are going to medical appointments and limiting exposure as much as possible. You are doing everything you can and so are they.

[sdlaura]

That makes sense, danib. I definitely don’t think this will be over in two weeks!

[danib]

hangry it was said directly to me by BILs girlfriend. Hence my angry ramblings lol. I was a bit savage last night following that conversation.
But I agree, most people are likely being sensible in their expectations.

[danib]

On a brighter note, my house has never been so clean! We've included daily chores as a part of our homeschool Day. So between the boys and myself there's stuff getting done that had not been priority before. This week alone the boys have wiped down all our doorknobs, light switches, window ledges, hand rails (stairs), and baseboards. C also voluntarily dusted his bedroom furniture. I've been better able to keep on top of the laundry, dishes, floors, bathrooms, and organizing.

[hangry]

My kids helped me build an ikea storage closet over the past two days! It probably took longer with them, but it got done and I am finally able to start reorganizing!

I also donated 4 bags of clothes and gave 3 bags of girl things to a friend.

I need to get my kids on some deep cleaning chores now!

[sdlaura]

I’m so jealous of those of you who are getting house things done! My house is worse than normal. If I were working from home with no kids, or if I was home with the kids but not working, I would love to get stuff like that done, but just not possible with kids home plus working

[danib]

Mar 21, 2020 7:36:21 GMT -6 sdlaura said:

I’m so jealous of those of you who are getting house things done! My house is worse than normal. If I were working from home with no kids, or if I was home with the kids but not working, I would love to get stuff like that done, but just not possible with kids home plus working

Ohh I 100% wouldn't be this productive if I had to work on top of it all.

[twopeas]

We are holding up fine so far. Right now, we are just social distancing but heading to mostly self isolation.

My state is not under any sort of shelter in place (yet 🤞), but schools are closed till at least 4/10, restaurants are take out only and bars are closed. My work didn't make the call until Wednesday night to close for 2 wks, so I worked a half day on Thursday to finish up straggler patients and yesterday I did my final grocery store run to stock up for the next week and few days. I work in a dental office so no working from home for me. I took DS out of daycare while I am not working, as they are suspending all pmts for families who have a parent out of work. Starting today he and I are going to stay home. I do have a MFM appt on Friday, and I think we will go to Home Depot after and pick up some paint so I can paint the nursery on my 2nd week off (as long as neither DS or I are showing symptoms of being any kind of sick).
DH is still working (aerospace manufacturing) and probably will continue to do so unless our state moves to SIP.

Right this moment H & DS are playing a Pokemon Nintendo game, so that's pretty boring for me, lol. I told DS he is not going to play video games and watch tv every day we are home, we are going to go for walks and read and puzzles and other stuff, so hopefully I don't go too stir crazy.

I'm glad we have our little group of us, as it is a weird time to be pregnant and it feels like no one else can relate. As stressful as this time is, we will all get through it!

[magaroni]

My older two (7 and 4) have been playing with perler beads for hours today so I highly recommend. It’s good fine motor practice for my 4 year old as well so that’s great!

My SIL was called and told to be at the hospital today to be induced. She is a little over 37 weeks. She was scheduled for induction on Tuesday due to high blood pressure but I guess her most recent 24 hour urine results showed protein so they wanted to induce ASAP. It’s her first baby and I am so sad for her that there’s so much fear, anxiety and uncertainty about everything right now and that she will have limited support except her husband through it all.

[danib]

So one of our confirmed positive cases attended a funeral last week before knowing she was positive and before people were being strict about social distancing here. So, yikes.

[sdlaura]

Ooh, danib, I’m sure the demographic at a funeral is the worst for contracting it!