Ah, what a time to be alive. Even crazier, is the thought of bringing a baby into a world that is completely terrified, confused, frustrated and alarmed. It’s not what I had envisioned during the last few years of trying to get to this finish line, but alas, here we are. Welcome to the world, Brooklyn! All of this can be yours!
Our daughter will be born two weeks from yesterday barring any early arrivals she may have in mind. And frankly, I wish she was here already. With so much uncertainty, we’re starting to get bits and pieces of information that were never ‘a part of our plan’ in bringing Brooklyn into the world.
First off, hospitals in the area are starting to prohibit anyone under 18 from visiting the hospitals. Although our hospital hasn’t made this announcement yet, we know it’s inevitable (Update: this announcement was just made literally two minutes after I finished this post. See image below). And perhaps we don’t even want our daughter Bella around the hospital in two weeks. At the rate of speed these coronavirus updates come in, two weeks from now feels like two years. And we’re not sure what a hospital will even look like. So that’s a bummer. We looked forward to having Brooklyn meet her big sister in the hospital bed.
We have family members who work in the medical field. They’ll likely not be able to see our daughter for weeks out of caution for the baby and themselves. Coronavirus symptoms don’t show up for days. This is just a bad cocktail no matter how you look at it.
Family out of state likely won’t be able to visit as easily as they would have sans coronavirus.
All Florida schools are cancelled until March 30th. That just happened. So that means Bella needs to be watched over while we’re at the hospital. This was obviously the plan, but now more days are required (and all day) to ensure she’s well taken care of (thank goodness we have family close by).
If I were to somehow contract coronavirus, I would miss the birth of my child. My wife already threatened my life if I did, so I’d be a dead man likely either way.
These are all minor problems in the big picture, I get it. Some people will lose their businesses. Some will even lose their lives. But I’m just blown away at how much it feels like we’re living in a movie right now. Canceling everything? Literally ev.ery.thi.ng. No sports, no parties, no events, no shows. This is unprecedented. And we don’t know if we’re just starting or at the finish line.
I look forward to the day my daughter Brooklyn is old enough to sit down and discuss with me the day she was born.
“Was it an exciting time, Dad?”
You have no idea, darlin’.
No idea.
