My name is Laura Figueroa. I am an ESL student at Santa Rosa Junior college. And this is how COVID-19 has been affecting me during this quarantine. On Dec. 31, 2019, I felt very enthusiastic because we were going to start a new year in a couple of hours. Then, I remember spending all day thinking about the goals and wishes I wanted to accomplish during the new year, such as losing weight, saving more money to get a new car, and more dreams that I wanted to achieve this year.
However, destiny had other plans for me and the rest of the world. In the last two weeks of December, I heard about a new virus discovered in China, but I never thought that this situation would go out of control. Also, I was going to face this situation here in Santa Rosa, far away from my family. Nevertheless, as any person in this country, COVID-19 has been affecting me emotionally and financially.
First of all, this virus has changed our lifestyle radically for everybody in many ways because it forces us to stay in quarantine at home and leave our jobs and our daily routines. In my experience, I got affected emotionally due to this situation because I don’t have my family close to me; they live in Texas so far away from me, and that made me feel alone in the middle of this situation.
In the first week of the new year, I found out that I was pregnant, and hearing about how harmful this virus could be, I got scared and nervous not just for me but for my baby. Moreover, my doctor’s appointments have changed from regular visits to phone calls. In that way, the consequences of that are that I can’t see or hear my baby progress by ultrasound, which affected me more emotionally.
Nevertheless, this situation is very frustrating for me because this is my first baby, and I’m feeling that I’m missing those beautiful stages that most of the women live during their pregnancy. Every time I go out, I feel scared to get infected by this virus because I know I can’t take any prescriptions during pregnancy, so I prefer to stay safely at home. However, I feel sad, scared, depressed, and I never thought I was going to live my first pregnancy in this way with all these complications.
COVID-19 has also affected me financially since California’s government took action to stop the pandemic in our state. They decided to close all unnecessary stores in the whole country, which have included the store where I used to work. I stopped working on March 15, and since then, I haven’t worked. I’m stressed about money.
For example, I couldn’t pay my April’s rent, and little by little, I have been spending the money I was saving for my baby to pay some of my bills. Honestly, this situation makes me feel sad and worried. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. Perhaps, this situation brought me more complications, but thank God, my family has been supporting me financially, which gives me a little comfort for my baby and me. Finally, I hope that this situation ends soon so I can have my baby and enjoy the beautiful things that used to be.
