Newlywed, Pregnant, and Stuck in a House – How we’re surviving COVID-19 Quarantine

5 months pregnant, married just about 4 months, stuck in quarantine going on 3 weeks, just the 2 of us, in 1 house.

We all choose our significant other keeping their faults in mind…. however, you don’t normally have to be smothered by those faults for a month constantly. I found it so interesting, yet believable, that divorce rates in China actually have increased since the coronavirus outbreak (Read one of the many articles on the subject here).

Being a woman, I have some crazy emotions. Being a pregnant woman – oh lord! But, we’re getting by ok so far…. Here are some of the things we’ve bickered about just today:

• why he said he would do something when I was already planning on doing it
• what paperwork we actually need on hand when walking our dog within a 200 meter (650 ft.) radius around our house in the hypothetical situation that a cop would stop us
• couples who have shared social media profiles
• is Roman (our dog) thirsty
• cleaning – I could write a book just on the cleaning complaints (he’s a clean freak, like most Italian men from what I’ve heard)
• why he is looking at me “like that”
• why he said whatever he said “in that way”
• him commenting on me being on the computer/phone
• why he said that he would eat eggs instead of eating pasta with pesto when I was already going to make the pasta with pesto that he agreed to
• (Adding this to the list) Did he huff after I said, ‘I will in a second’? No, but now he is huffing because I asked if he huffed.
• and probably some others

Writing these down, makes me giggle a little bit, because of just how stupid they are! Bickering is a very real thing right now, but we are surviving. I once read in Men are from Mars Women are from Venus that a man is like a rubber band and needs to distance himself to then get closer. Well, this is physically impossible right now. There is also a financial aspect of the crisis happening, which of course has him, along with many other people, very nervous. I’d say that I’m not the only one with emotions that are a little all over the place right now. Alberto is very used to having time with his friends. We do spend a lot of time together on a normal basis, but he always has his nights that he goes out ‘with the boys’ as a release. It’s his way to deal with stress, and it works for him.

This past week, most days, I have actually been following my own advice (surprisingly) from my post last week. I’m keeping myself as busy/as relaxed as possible instead of sulking and looking to him for comfort consistently. Meanwhile, Alberto has been working from home which keeps him mentally busy during the day.

Despite the difficulties, here is how we’ve been keeping ourselves from not killing one another:

• We try to shut up. When we bicker one or the other says ‘OK.’ (I will admit, it’s normally him) Bickering is not an argument, it’s built up frustration from any situation that we’re just taking out on that one particular moment. It’s not worth continuing the conversation.
• Humor! You bet Alberto has pulled the chocolate on the toilet paper roll on me. I cut his hair which was pretty hilarious (poor guy) and tons of other stuff that was Instagram worthy… Laughter, can always lighten the mood and it’s a much-needed medicine right now for everyone!
• A bit of Romance. Probably the best thing that he’s done so far is suggest a date night. I never would have thought, but even just the suggestion lifted my spirits. We’re going to get all dressed up for a candlelit dinner at Casa Zilberti.
• Little acts of kindness. Making meals, cleaning up after the other person even, without complaining. We ran out of water bottles and he made sure to boil then cool some tap water to make sure that I had water to drink. I hate cleaning – but I’ve done some extra chores myself around the house to keep him from going completely insane.

This is a tough time on everyone emotionally. Don’t go run to get a divorce after all this. That’s silly.

What’s driving you absolutely crazy about your significant other right now? Even better and more important, what wonderful things about them are keeping you from putting them in the hospital?