Pandemic and Pregnancy: Hello 2020

The post that’s less about pregnancy and more about how 2020 went from normal to not in record time – January to March

The beginning of 2020 was actually really good for me. I started to get my morning sickness under control, we found out we were having another little boy, and work was going well. I had several new opportunities coming with the new year.

The previous year I had the opportunity to assist in translation of several Dano-Norwegian letters for the historians compiling Saints v.2. The release party for the book was at the beginning of February and I was able to attend – catching up with fellow students and a professor I hadn’t seen since I graduated from BYU. It was a triumphant moment for me and I was able to celebrate with my husband and son. 

There I am! Mentioned in the acknowledgements!

The launch party for Saints v.2 was soon followed by Rootstech. 2020 was the 10th anniversary of Rootstech, and as such, the Family History Library was aiming to play a larger role in the conference. We planned extended hours for the week of the conference, library specialists got asked to hold classes, and — Unlike previous years — several events were planned to be at the library.

I had carefully planned out my schedule for the week to allow myself to attend as many classes and events as possible. I had my time split between my job at the library, volunteering in the expo hall, attending classes, attending socials for various organizations, and preparing for and teaching a class myself. I also volunteered to work at the library during the extended hours on the first two days of Rootstech. 

My planning did little good though, I woke up on the second day of the conference with a severe sore throat and very little motivation. A quick trip to the doctor assured me that I didn’t have the flu or strep – so I hurried off to Rootstech and did my best not to die for the rest of the week. My sore throat turned into an intense dry cough that I felt deep in my chest and throughout the week I found myself unable to breathe after walking the short distance from the Family History Library to the Salt Palace for the conference.

In hindsight, I’m pretty sure I had COVID-19, but at the time, the doctor said I was fine to go to Rootstech. COVID-19 had only just barely popped up in California and there was still very little information known about it. As far as I know, nobody contracted COVID-19 at Rootstech (which some kind of miracle) and life went on.

A few weeks later my husband and I went to a Salt Lake performance of Dear Evan Hansen. COVID-19 was more of a worry, but the theater was still open so we went. The play was amazing! Both my husband and I loved it. During intermission my husband came out of the bathroom where he had been talking to other theater goers and informed me that Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 and the NBA was suspending their season for the foreseeable future.

I remember thinking that it all was happening so fast, one moment the virus is just reaching California, the next, the entire NBA is shut down.

Throughout the next week, colleges were announcing transitions to online classes, schools were sending kids home for an extended spring break, and the Family History Library was closing its doors – asking us as employees to pack up our desk and set up to work from home for two weeks. 

I’m a historian, so when the library closed, I knew it would be for more than two weeks considering the Spanish flu took two years to run it’s course. Pandemics don’t just come to give you a two week vacation. I do believe though, that some people honestly thought the stay at home directive would be brief and things would go back to normal. Then two weeks turned into two months, then four. . . now six. I’ve stopped trying to predict when things will go back to some wort of normal, it could be a while.

#Pandemic #Pregnancy #work #rootstech #COVID19