One Year Later: A Pregnancy, Pandemic, and a Baby

Last year at this time I was celebrating our wedding weekend in Las Vegas. It was the first time in six months that all of my siblings and I had been together, my husband and brother were able to spend quality time together, and I was able to have quality time with my sisters.

Since then so much has changed. Of course, everyone says that when looking back on their first year of marriage. But, seriously. Almost nothing is the same from November of 2019. Yes, we still live in our house, we’re still in Corpus Christi, we occasionally bother my in-laws at random. But, in the overall sense of it, there are so many new things.

The week we returned from our wedding I had two major work events and hit the ground running. My husband and I both had finals. I had my name changed as soon as I could. Then, I was sick. So, so sick. I assumed I had the flu since a few people in my office had come down with it. Then three weeks later I found out I was pregnant. It was definitely sooner than my husband and I had planned on starting our family, but when we found out my due date was his late grandmother’s birthday we felt at ease.

Going through the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 we took everything with as much grace and patience as we could. I had terrible morning sickness and my husband tried to learn how to deal with me being sick 24/7. (Fun fact it lasted until I was 28 weeks pregnant.)

Then, I went to Austin for a work event at the end of February. When I came back I worked from home and took some time off since I had worked so much the previous week. This is around the time COVID started. As cases increased and public awareness became more and more panicked I began exclusively working from home.

March through July was nothing more than a blur of sickness, doctor appointments, becoming a Zoom master, Hulu and Netflix binges, and worry. My husband and I were unable to take parenting classes, birth classes, and overall prepare to be parents with family and friends.

Come August we had our son and it was an interesting transition not only for us as parents, but for our parents as they learned how to be grandparents. When I went back to work in September the quietness of the office was a stark difference to the usual packed waiting room and clients coming in and out of our drop-in center. In October I gave a TedX talk in relation to work topics I usually speak on and am personally passionate about.

And, here we are again. Halloween decorations have faded to Thanksgiving wreaths and Christmas lights. My husband and I argue about when the Christmas tree can go up. Our dog appreciates longer walks due to the cooler weather. And the house smells like the seasonal candles we have saved up for these months.

It’s a year later and it feels like everything is the same. That it’s always been this way, but looking back everything is so different. Maybe, this is how we get through the hard times. We have to be strong and push through and once we’ve grown we relish in our newfound comfort.

I’m beyond excited to go into this season with a little one and watch him grow up and enjoy all of the things to come. I’m happy with our new normal and comfort, but I’m ready for the next uneasy phase and thrilled and what new greatness will lie past it.