We can only imagine the challenges facing mothers who are among the front line workers, that are serving our community. Doctors, nurses, EMT’s, delivery drivers, grocery store workers, and so on... These are our heroes this Mother's Day, and we are sharing two stories from our friends who are there for us while they are juggling being moms. We applaud their sacrifices in this unimaginable time.
Adriane - Mother Baby RN | UCSD Medical Center | San Diego, CA
Hopefully, my thoughts are coherent since it’s 2 am and I’m on the downslope of my 12hr night shift at the hospital. It’s been a crazy ride during this Covid-19 mess. Trying to balance being a mom, maid, cook, educator (I use that term extremely loosely) and nurse full time has been chaotic, to say the least. I feel mentally, emotionally, and physically drained at times, and other times I feel this overwhelming sense of content having my girls at home for so long. It’s odd.
As hard as it is I love that they’re either with their dad or myself and not in daycare. Our daily routine at the beginning of this mess started with a nice walk or scooter ride for my 4yr old followed by a craft or something I found on Pinterest then lunch and downtime and more outside time before dinner and bedtime routine.
Things have definitely gone a bit differently. Nowadays I feel like I’m just trying to get through the day versus make the day great. It makes me feel sad at times when I compare our routine now to when we first got the shelter at home orders. The crafts have slowed down. Everyone’s patience is wearing thin. We are trying to make the best of things but it’s tough for sure. We are healthy at the end of the day and that’s the most important thing but man to have our normalcy back would be just grand.
To stay sane I’ve amped up outside time and I make sure that the days I don’t have to sleep for work I take an hour or so for a long 3-4m walk. I’ve been enjoying my desserts to balance that. I live for long showers alone (I say alone bc half the time there are 1 or both of the girls in said shower). And to be honest, even though I don’t love the process of sleeping during the day and getting to work, I do enjoy my time at work and the break I get from all that is required of me at the house.
Emily K Bradshaw BSN, RN, CCRN | Atlanta, GA
Life as a care nurse fighting COVID-19 and being a mommy:
At work, my title is BSN, RN, CCRN but at home, I am Mommy. My husband and I moved our family to West Cobb two years ago from the Smyrna area. I have been a critical care nurse for 15 years and currently work as a nurse educator in the Intensive Care Unit. I spend my days supporting nurses new to critical care as well as introducing new procedures and devices to our team.
In mid-March we realized that the inevitable was upon us, we too were dealing with a horrible virus that we knew very little about. In the critical care world, we are accustomed to dealing with the worst, being the calm in the chaos, and adapting to whatever is coming our way. This was different. It was changing. We could get it and even worse could carry it home to our loved ones. Staying on top of the current recommendations for prevention was a full-time job and we had never considered running out of PPE, which was terrifying.
My husband is a system engineer with UPS. His work is as busy as Christmas thanks to the pandemic. We knew from the start that school closing was going to put us in a pickle because we depend on them to care for our young children while we work. We immediately flew in Nana from Texas. Luckily, she was able to stay for two weeks until “hospital-kids camp” (as we call it) opened.
Many nights I have stood in our kitchen and sobbed to my husband about how much I hate all of this. It is surreal that this is our current day-to-day and that it is becoming normal now. But, the bright side is we are doing it. The hospital team has risen to the occasion. Patients have fought for their lives and won, lots of times, and we will get through this.
At home, we have learned just how resilient our little family is. We went into protection mode and focused on doing the basics right: washing our hands, endlessly trying to keep babies’ fingers out of their mouths, coughing into elbows, etc. I invested in a clear shoe box from Target to keep my shoes sealed up in my Mom-mobile and try to run home to shower before I pick up my kids.
The support our family (and healthcare in general) has received from our community is incredible. Neighbors and family members have us suited with the coolest hats and headbands for added protection and comfort. The kids’ school bought them the most fantastic Easter baskets just to take something off our plates. We are all majorly concerned about the “Corona Fifteen” from all the delicious food that has been sent. At home, we have focused on being outside enjoying time with our family as much as possible. We have walked many miles around the neighborhood enjoying the bear hunts that our neighbors had out for everyone to spot and enjoy.
Being a critical care nurse and a mom in the pandemic has been interesting and I am super ready for this all to go away. I bounce between “perhaps you were born for such a time as this” and “this is not what we signed up for” but know that when I look back at this time, I will remember we did it. We all persevered. And, we learned that toilet paper is the real MVP and that our favorite distilleries can make hand sanitizer too. Who knew?
Great article Emily