Confinement

Back in olden times, upper-class, noble, or royal women would withdraw from society toward the end of their pregnancies and be confined to their rooms with only midwives, ladies-in-waiting and female relatives in attendance. From that tradition grew the term EDOC, meaning expected date of confinement. Most obstetricians now simply use DD or due date.

I thought of a new meaning for EDOC in the face of COVID-19: Extended Days of Confinement. The governor of Texas recently announced the easing of restrictions so that businesses, including malls, retail stores and restaurants can re-open in a limited way and lifted the shelter-in-place order. This when the state has not yet hit the apex of the infection, with 27,000 known infections and more than 700 deaths. Some people, including me, think this is foolhardy, feeling that it could set off a new wave of infections. Our little community has had only 48 cases and 2 deaths, which I believe is the result of a stay-at-home order went into effect early. 

These days, nearly every conversation begins "when this is over." All of us want to see an end to this medical and economic nightmare. I was talking to my 10-year-old granddaughter Lena yesterday and she said, "Grandma, when this is over I want to go to McDonalds and Chik-fil-A." She misses her friends and the routines of school and after-school athletics. 

When this is over I want to:

• Hug my grandson Booker, who has been isolated from us because of his mom's potential exposure at work;
• Walk through the grocery store and pick out exactly what I want;
• Get a mani-pedi;
• Get a badly-needed haircut;
• Eat restaurant food in the actual restaurant instead of dining from a styrofoam box;
• Resume our family dinners;
• Go on a road trip somewhere with Andy;
• Reschedule my trip to see a friend in Connecticut;
• Buy flowers and potting soil to fill my planters around the pool;
• Go to the library.

Alas, it may be a while before I am allowed to do any of these things or even feel comfortable doing them. In the meantime, we'll stay at home and try to be content. We're now in the second trimester of restrictions. It remains to be seen whether this disaster will last as long as it takes to produce a new human being. Stay well, my friends.