It’s a tad bizarre the last time I saw my friends, I had a budding baby bump – and next time I see them, I’ll have a baby in my arms…
Being stuck at home for my entire third trimester was not what I had anticipated when I shared the news of my pregnancy with my friends and family, but like the rest of the world, I’m taking it day-by-day and making the most of it! As coronavirus cases in Dallas continued to rise and the city set a mandated shelter-at-home order, I was incredibly anxious about what this would mean during my pregnancy. We are so fortunate we’ve had a smooth pregnancy thus far, and I recognize others may have had very different experiences. However, today I wanted to share my experience, my 33 week update, guidelines placed by our doctors, and how I’m looking at this time with a positive outlook and keeping my sanity!
Note: While the shelter-in-place has been lifted, I’m so grateful my family is continuing with the same level of caution as before. While it sounds so nice to get out and about and visit our favorite restaurants, we’re all being extra careful and staying home during this time since Blair has a newborn and I’m pregnant. It’s been a very exciting and BIG year for our fam!
Shop my look:
White Dress (non-maternity & fits both of my sisters too! We all ordered it + it comes in 3 colors. Perfect transitional dress.) // Strappy Heels (comfortable at 33 weeks!) // Earrings (similar)
The Doctors Appointments
My doctor’s appointments have continued on schedule, but now I have to go through a pre-screening every time I enter the hospital. When they first implemented the pre-screening, they took my temperature and asked if I had left the country in the past 10 days. I had no fever but informed them I had recently returned from Ellen’s wedding in Canada. They debated giving me an orange sticker, but decided since Canada was a low risk country, I could proceed with a green coronavirus-free sticker. At this time, I brought my own gloves but didn’t have a facemask and one was not provided. The doctor’s office was the same, so I planned ahead to bring my own pen to sign in and the staff did not seem overly concerned about COVID-19.
For my next appointment, they continued with the temperature check, but did not ask about the countries visited and had masks available for people entering that did not provide their own. I had an N95 mask leftover from the California wildfires last year, so I opted not to take another. They gave me a green wristband with the date colored in, and I was on my way.
SHOP MY LOOK:
My most recent screening, they continued with the temperature check, no questions, and gave me a green wristband. The biggest change during this visit was that they required everyone to wear their mask even if they were already wearing one. Since my N95 mask provides more protection than the paper hospital masks, they asked me to double up… so I went on my way wearing 2 masks!
I really appreciated this, because it gave me some security that the people I encountered within the hospital were not showing signs of Coronavirus. We have been fortunate that our hospital in Dallas has allowed my husband to come to the appointments with me. A couple other pregnant girls I know said their husbands weren’t allowed to attend their appointments, so this is something we definitely do not take for granted. Although Texas is opening up, we are still hoping and praying cases don’t spike so Kevin will be able to be present for my delivery on July 6th!
I’ve been very fortunate with an easy pregnancy, so I learned during a normal pregnancy, your insurance only covers 3 sonograms: 10 weeks, 20 weeks, and 36 weeks. From the beginning, Kevin and I knew we wanted to pay out of pocket for another sonogram between 20 and 36 weeks to see our baby again. We spoke to our doctor about doing a 3D sonogram at a local sonography shop (yes, those exist!), but due to COVID-19 the ideal time to receive a 3D sonogram fell after shelter-in-place was implemented in Dallas, and these were not considered “essential businesses”, so our appointment was cancelled with no reschedule date. We were bummed, but knew this was for everyone’s safety, and since it was an elective sonogram, we cut our losses and knew we were fortunate in our circumstances and moved on.
During our next doctor’s appointment, our doctor informed us that their machine did offer 3D photos, however, the machine is older so the photos wouldn’t be as clear as what is advertised from the sonography shops that focus solely on taking beautiful baby photos. We decided getting these photos sounded like a fun & happy thing to look forward to while we’re sheltered at home (aside from going to the hospital), so we signed up to get a 3D sonogram at my 30 week appointment – and we are very happy we splurged on this!
The Work/Life Balance
Aside from blogging, I work full-time in the technology sector of a Fortune 50 company, and primarily support teams in Latin America and Europe, so working remotely from my colleagues is nothing new and our infrastructure has allowed me to work from home, which I have been doing 1-2 days a week since I started in 2014.
SHOP MY LOOK:
While I was in Canada for Ellen’s wedding, the news about Coronavirus kept becoming more and more ominous and people began talking about the various conferences that were being cancelled around the country. Two days before I returned to the US, I received an email from our management team saying we will all be working remotely and asked anyone available globally to login to work for a couple specified hours on Sunday for a stress test. Since I was traveling, my schedule didn’t allow me to login for this test, but it must not have gone as planned, because a couple days later everyone in North America received an email to wait until 12:00 EST before logging in to work – yay! This lasted two weeks, which was amazing. I was able to sleep in, make myself a healthy breakfast, and go on a morning walk. These things are great for anyone, but it was really nice during pregnancy to have a slow start to the day to focus on my health and wellness rather than running out the door with a granola bar like I usually do when I work in the office.
Although this late start couldn’t last forever, I am still very fortunate that I can work from home through my entire third trimester. I am able to wear comfortable clothes to accommodate my ever-growing belly, can prop my feet up whenever I need, or sit in firm or soft chairs depending on how I’m feeling at that time. At 32 weeks, I have yet to develop any swelling in my legs or feet and I attribute some of that to not sitting for 8+ hours a day in a chair at the office plus my hour commute each day. Additionally, working from home has enabled me to squeeze in more walks or Peloton rides into my routine (best purchase ever!), which I’m certain I would have been too tired to do after spending a full day at the office.
SHOP MY LOOK:
Click here to shop our floral spring wreath
Aside from the work that I do for my career, I also am Chair for a young professional’s organization (Echelon) that is part of The Salvation Army. Our large conference that happens once every four years was planned for July in Chicago and I had been working on various workshops, pop up booths, mainstage presentations, etc. etc. etc. When I returned from Canada on March 9th, this conference was still planned to continue April 22-25th. By April 22nd I was in my 3rd trimester and my doctor advised me (before COVID-19) not to travel. However, since I was chair of this group and it was so early into my third trimester, I was going to attend the conference and my mom was going to come with me to help assist with things that may be difficult for a third trimester preggo – such as lifting baggage into the overhead bin. Luckily my mom had delayed buying her flight, because by March 12th, this conference was cancelled.
Baby Shower? Cancelled Too.
Like so many others, parties have been put to the wayside while we shelter in place to help flatten the Coronavirus curve. My sisters, mom, mother-in-law, and friends had started the planning process for a May baby shower, but after we returned from Canada in March, we all saw the writing on the wall and they put planning on hold until we knew more about the Coronavirus situation.
Well, on April 1st, the party was officially cancelled. We were fortunate the planning stages were very early and there were no contracts to work around and no invitations had been sent. So one short email and the party is off. While I’m bummed I can’t see my friends during this time, I am so happy everyone is staying safe and sending baby Lazares love via phone and Zoom! I can’t wait to have our friends over after our baby is born to celebrate at a later and safer time!
Click here to read about Blair’s baby shower + tips for planning the perfect baby shower!
Staying Sane At Home
Being that I’m pregnant, my husband and I have been extra cautious about making sure we keep germs away, and I limit my exposure whenever possible. Therefore, I don’t leave the house unless I’m going to the doctor. Needless to say I love those appointments every 2 weeks and get dressed up every time I go! Also, I started sheltering in place a week earlier than it was mandated in Dallas, so I have spent a LOT of time at home since March 9th. Also, being pregnant, I can’t enjoy a quarantine cocktail like many of my friends, so I sit at home drinking my Topo Chico day after day.
SHOP MY LOOK:
I quickly learned that I like to stay busy, so I created a “what to do while in quarantine to-do list” and it has actually been amazing! Who knew a to-do list would be what you look forward to? But since I’ve kept this running list from the beginning it also makes me feel extremely accomplished when I look back at the previous months (stay tuned for a blog post on how to clean your shower hardware, windows, French drains, gardening, and more – I’m on a domestic roll! ;)).
I’ve also really enjoyed the process of cooking during this time. My husband is definitely the chef of the family and I usually like a quick meal that I can throw together in 30 minutes or less, but since I have so much extra time I’ve learned to make new dishes – which has been really fun and rewarding. So far my favorite new addition is crème brulee. It’s not incredibly difficult, but it does take a lot of time – perfect for being stuck at home!
SHOP CREME BRULEE ESSENTIALS:
Last and certainly not least, all this time at home has given us more time to prepare our little girl’s nursery for her arrival. Fortunately we already had all the furniture (because I can’t lift heavy objects and we don’t want people in our house for deliveries), so we spent this time preparing her closet (with this awesome organizing system), getting the nursery cameras set up, hanging the Hermes scarf we purchased prior to COVID-19 above her crib and hung these adorable lucite bookshelves. I’ve also been talking with Blair a lot about what I need for my “4th Trimester”, so I feel like I’m now very prepared for what’s to come in July as well.
SHOP MY LOOK:
Overall
During these uncertain times, I am doing what I can to keep myself and my unborn baby safe, so although some days are better than others sheltering in place, I remind myself how fortunate we are to have our health and it’s not worth exposing ourselves or others to germs when we have the ability to stay busy at home. I’m naturally a homebody as well, so although I miss a nice weekend brunch at Bistro 31 or Park House, I am happy we’re using this time to catch up on rest, fill my time with home projects, and enjoy evening walks through the neighborhood with my husband! It’s crazy how soon we will get to meet our precious baby girl, and I cannot wait!