Motherhood in the time of covid

Mother's Day this year has been...different.

Sierra, Bodie and I were all diagnosed with symptomatic COVID on Friday. We know where we got it. It's a long story, but let's just preface this by saying that we have been very careful with masks and social distancing. With two medically fragile peeps in the house, we take COVID very seriously around here. We are definitely not of the "it's just a cold" or "it's a hoax" camp. Sorry, not sorry for that. But the one thing we have learned in raising a medically fragile child is that all the worry has to be balanced with LIVING your life. We let our guard down a bit...and we ended up with COVID.

Thankfully, Dusk and I both have our first vaccine under our belts (our second shot was scheduled for this week, actually). That has probably helped my symptoms to be more mild. And Dusk tested negative and has had no symptoms, thank God. We're ever prayerful he remains that way.

Bodie, Sierra and I are all symptomatic. 

I tell ya, this disease is a weird one. 

Sierra was the first to come down with her symptoms, and is almost a week in at this point. She seems past the worst of her symptoms, which included one day of a 101 fever and really bad muscle aches. She has lost her taste and sense of smell and generally is just really tired. Although her fever is gone, she is suffering from a lot of what she calls "heat waves" when she just gets really hot suddenly. 

Bodie was second to become symptomatic, and is faring ok so far. He suffered through two days of unrelenting, sobbing on the floor, massive, absolutely untouchable by any home remedy or medicine, headaches. (I have since learned that headaches are a common early COVID symptom in kids, even more so than fevers.) His headaches have passed, thankfully, but his sense of smell and taste has been affected today so much that "everything tastes and smells like vomit." It's been difficult to get him to eat anything. We know the key to keeping him healthy enough to fight this virus at home (and not have to go to the hospital) is to keep him well fed and hydrated, so please pray this symptom passes quickly for him. Thankfully, his lungs seem clear so far and he's been fever free. He does have congestion and coughing, but it hasn't moved into his chest yet.

I was the last to become symptomatic and am now only on day 4. I haven't had a fever yet, but am a bit congested. My biggest symptom by far is the shortness of breath and it's NO JOKE. I'm fine as long as I'm sitting down. But once I stand up to start moving around, I can't make it more than 15 minutes before I'm out of breath and needing to rest. I literally broke into a sweat changing the sheets on the bed today. And my body is definitely struggling to maintain temperature - my overall temp is low, but I'm sweating a lot and going from hot to cold and back. My oxygen sats are ok - it's just that I'm constantly out of breath. I feel like a contestant on The Biggest Loser, at the beginning of the show, when they can't walk more than 15 feet without getting out of the breath. 

It's been super fun.

We've gotten good advice on the best regimen of vitamins and supplements to take at home in addition to the essential oils we're already using, and we're on that. 

Our challenge as a family has been figuring out how to isolate Dusk from the rest of us so that he doesn't also catch it. Thankfully, our property is big enough that we've been able to do that thus far. But we really miss him. :-( We're ever so grateful that he can pick up groceries for us right now, since we're persona non grata pretty much everywhere. 

We covet your prayers right now. 

COVID is really like a game of Russian Roulette. 

It can turn at any time. 

I know many people experience mild symptoms, but there are many that don't and we are painfully aware of that. The worship pastor at our church, a healthy guy with no comorbidities, is back in the hospital battling complications from covid again, and has been fighting it since December. We KNOW how serious this disease is and we'd be lying if we said we weren't concerned.

 

But we know we worship a God who has foreseen all of this and has his ever protective hand on us.  

PLEASE pray for and with our family. 

Pray that our symptoms don't become worse.

Pray that Bodie can continue to manage his symptoms at home.

Pray that Dusk doesn't get it.

Pray for God's hand of healing and protection over our family, especially over Dusk and Bodie. 

So this Mother's Day looked a little different today. 

It involved a lot of resting, and a socially distanced dinner outside so we could be with Dusk. 

But at least we are together. 

I got to talk to my incredible, amazing role model mom multiple times today.

And I have my babies in my arms, covid positive and all, but they're with me.

And for this, I know I am the lucky one.