 Hi guys, welcome back to this video Those of you who don't know already I am currently pregnant. I'm doing April today's December 1st I'm due end of April, so I'm like 18 and a half weeks pregnant today And a lot of you also know that I have been working in the ICU for the last couple of years and most recently our ICU has been strictly COVID ICU and So a lot of you have reached out to me saying hey I'm pregnant my job You know wants me to decide whether I can work in the ICU or work with COVID patients versus not or your work Is forcing you to either work with COVID patients or not And so you were asking kind of my advice my opinions all that good stuff So I figured I'd just make a whole video on this so Little backstory we chose to get pregnant We did know that COVID was a thing when we did try to get pregnant So we knew it was a possibility that I'd be pregnant and taking care of COVID patients My work initially when COVID started did allow nurses to go To work on other units if they wanted to and then as you know, COVID became more of a thing That privilege so to speak was taken away. I know many workplaces are still allowing COVID or nurses Who get pregnant to go work in other areas, but at this time my job does not offer that however, with that being said that Does not really bother me and bothers me that it's not an option at least but Even if it was an option, I would have chose to stay working in My COVID ICU unit and let me kind of explain why some of you guys for I think I'm crazy But at the hospital I'm at Most recently we do test every patient that comes in But prior to that we did not COVID test every single patient that came to the hospital Even ICU patients that were getting admitted if they didn't, you know, meet certain criteria for testing We did not test them and so that means that potentially a patient could be in Another ICU a non-COVID ICU for several days And I could have been in there taking care of that patient just wearing, you know, a surgical mask and whatnot And then days later suddenly they go, oh, maybe we should test them for COVID and they get moved to the COVID ICU So I just did not personally want to risk having that extreme exposure Not wearing all the appropriate PPE for quote-unquote COVID patients. Sorry, my dog's itching her face if you hear that scratching And so I would rather knowingly take care of COVID patients or COVID rule-out patients wearing all the appropriate PPE while pregnant than to potentially be taking care of someone who ends up being a COVID patient For a certain amount of time not wearing all the PPE. So that was pretty much my main Factor. Now, it does make me a little anxious that we just don't quite know a whole lot about COVID during pregnancy and COVID with, you know, The developing baby and whatnot. I'm glad I'm out of my first trimester, which is where like most of the development happens I do have a healthy pregnancy so far. I am a healthy person in general So I'm not too concerned about me necessarily getting COVID I am a little more concerned about the effects on the baby in the womb or potentially a long term because we just don't know that But I chose to get pregnant during a pandemic And I'm just instead of like being so anxious about all these things that are out of my control I'm just gonna focus on what I can't control and that's wearing my PPE, washing my hands Minimizing my exposure and whatnot. I just feel like COVID is going to be around for a while And I could potentially get exposed at the grocery store just as I could potentially get exposed While I'm working. And so if I'm gonna get COVID, I'm gonna get COVID Now so far, I have not had it. I have had some pretty big exposures At work and outside of work with someone, you know, that I had been around for a while I eventually, you know, got it and whatnot. So It is what it is. This is a big deal in our world right now, and it just it is what it is. So I Think that answers most of the main questions a couple other questions were about, you know Going back to work and pumping if I am worried about that I'm not so worried about that. I Wash my hands and I take really good care of my pump equipment when I'm at work And so when I get to that point if we get to that point and COVID's still a big deal I will just be extra cautious. A lot of you guys have asked what I'm doing when I come home from work If I'm wearing different scrubs, so I'm taking any other precautions I'm taking pretty much the same precautions that I normally have been taking. I wear my same scrubs at work I don't wear surgical scrubs I used to but the availability of them just comes and goes and sometimes are not in your size And so I was like whatever. I'll just wear my regular scrubs and then immediately I get when I get home I take my shoes off in the garage. I take my scrubs off in the garage and then I put them in the laundry right away Washing my hands. Well, I will wipe down, you know, my keys and steering wheel I have just my lunch bag that you know goes to and from work. I don't use it for anything else And so I just try to be extra cautious I do plan on getting my antibodies tested again here in a couple of weeks when I do my next OB lab Blood draw he said that they could add that antibody test on there Because I've just had like so much exposure. I have not been sick whatsoever like zero symptoms, no fever, no cough, no chills, no sore throat, no congestion No shortness of breath, nothing like that since COVID was a thing. So I if I did get it I would have been asymptomatic But yeah, that's kind of me rambling now So I I stand by my decision to work in a COVID. I see you I don't want this to necessarily influence you one way or another. You ultimately have to do what's right for you and your family Whether that means staying working with COVID patients or maybe taking another job or working in another area You just have to weigh the risks and benefits of it all talk to your OB about it when I talked to my OB about it He was in full support of like, hey, yeah, I get it You're gonna get exposed and so if you're gonna get exposed you minus what will be wearing the PPE And that's kind of my philosophy on it I hope that answers some of your guys's questions and I will see you in my next video. Bye