The Corona Chronicles – Volume 2

March 29 – April 11

Dear Posterity,

The last two weeks have been good. We are still dealing with lice, but we only had about 17 meltdowns this week instead of 18, so that’s progress I would say. We got some desks and converted the playroom into a schoolroom, complete with a reading corner and music area. After a couple days of official distance learning the girls are in a routine. They get up, get dressed, brush their teeth, make their bed and start on their school work. Hubby makes breakfast before heading to his office for his work calls and meetings. I meander down with baby around 9. My toddler is usually watching TV until mean Mommy appears and tells Alexa to turn the TV off. (I really hate that thing. How lazy can you be? and I know she’s spying on us…But Alexa and I are friends now because I never have to worry about which kid is hiding the remote when I tell them to turn the TV off:) Anyway, before you start thinking I’m bragging, it gets better. I promise.

While the lice situation has been dwindling (I think), a new problem has arisen. I’ve noticed that the baby has had a “weird” latch since birth; but now it’s SUPER painful to latch and nurse; my ducts are clogged; and I’m afraid of getting mastitis. I think he has a lip tie and tongue tie. I spent hours and days reaching out to lactation consultants and trying everything in the books to relive my clogged ducts…massage, hot shower, pumping, microwaving rice in an old sock to make a boob heating pad, awkwardly dangling my boob in a bowl of water and epsom salt for 10 minutes, and sneakily massaging my boob with my husband’s electric toothbrush (because I don’t have one. I figure it’s sanitary after the epsom salt soak, right?) My OB ended up prescribing me antibiotics, but I’m stubborn and hate that stuff too, so I made my own antibiotic concoction and bought out the Vitamin Shoppe and added these to my already lengthy regiment. It’s helping….

Doctors offices are only partially open these days, and when they are they’re taking patients through the back door. Dentists (who perform laser tie revisions) have all been deemed “non-essential” unless there’s an emergency. I finally got a lactation consultant to come do a home eval, and she confirmed both ties and recommended some physicians. It’s been hard to find a doctor to perform his frenectomy, but we finally found one. So far she seems great, but I feel like I’m part of some covert ops mission setting up my private appointment and communicating with her via her private cell phone. Anyway, hopefully he will be getting a revision in the next week or two. Meanwhile, I’ll keep boob-dangling in salt and massaging with hubby’s toothbrush.

On another note, after feeling pretty good about the girls being on a routine, I started feeling a little ambitious and thought now would be a great time to start my post-baby workout. I figure that when this quarantine is over and done with two types of people will emerge: those who really enjoy “baking” and those who “enjoy” exercising. I’m shooting for the latter. I only gained about 40lbs or 50…who’s counting… during this pregnancy, and I’m totally determined to get back into my pre-pregnancy skinny jeans. Not sure why it matters because it’s not like I have anywhere to wear them. Just me and my leggings from now until who knows when we’re allowed out in public again. Anyway, my husband is super scheduly and does his workouts religiously and suggested I join him in doing Insanity workouts. Sure! It can’t be that bad? BAHAHAHA….. It should be called DEATH. Insanity is too kind. (After day 3 walking down the stairs became more dangerous than going out in public.)

OFFICIAL LOCKDOWN began on April 2nd. People are a little cray cray and of course there’s still a shortage – or should I say “absence” of toilet paper, flushable wipes, and paper towels. We’ve had to reduce ourselves to buying flushable wipes on Amazon. I still don’t get it. Me – my biggest thing preparing for this month-long lockdown is not getting to see people! I can make my own TP if I need to. If I start making up my own friends somebody needs to call a therapist. The week before lockdown I stopped by two friends’ houses to drop some off some things and chatted outside (from a safe distance) for over an hour with each of them. In addition, we still get some socialization thanks to ZOOM and other technology. My husband and I Zoom with our marriage Bible study group on Sunday nights; we watch church virtually and drink our coffee (not virtually); we also downloaded the Houseparty app to play games with our friends.

Meanwhile at home our days consist of school and playing outside. Here are my positive takeaways from the past two weeks: I was finally able to jump on the trampoline with the kids (after being pregnant and then recovery from C-section.) My 2-year old learned to ride a bike! Our neighbors have been doing fun activities and hiding goodies in the trees and bushes along the sidewalk for “scavenger hunts.” So far we’ve had an Easter egg hunt and a “Heart of TeFiti” hunt. 3D printers are apparently really cool. We’ve gone on family walks and bike rides, played games together and had family devotions about being a “team.” We celebrated Palm Sunday by watching church services. Then the big girls jumped on the trampoline for hours in the rain. I cut, nailed and painted a wooden cross for the front yard as well as a “Hosanna” sign. My toddler painted next to me and played with dirt. 🙂

Summary: When I wasn’t in excruciating pain or combing for remaining lice, weeks 3-4 have been rather good. We got this!