'We're Both COVID Positive And Our Babies Are Negative. Here's How We Spent The Week'.

By Olivia Mackinnon

I’m not going to sit here and pretend you all don’t know how hard lockdown is. As a country, we’ve just been through it for almost half a year. It’s the worst, it’s suffocating - for everyone - and let me tell you, that with two kids under three, it can feel more like half a century of imprisonment.

I ridiculously thought all of that was behind us, until my husband realised he had a body ache and went and had a PCR test. Badabing badaboom, we’re a COVID household. As it stands currently, a positive result in any household means that everyone in that household must isolate at home for at least 7 days, or two extra days if symptoms are present. Yay…

A further PCR test for myself, almost three-year-old Eva and 10-month-old Freddie was the real kick in the teeth. My result eventually came through 28 hours later - POSITIVE. At this point we were both parents POSITIVE, baby Freddie NEGATIVE and Eva still unknown. 

Cue panic.

How on earth are you supposed to live in a home with two positive parents and what eventually turned out to be two negative children, one of whom is still breastfeeding and enjoys trying to pash his mother every half an hour? Daycare was off the table, as was the two days I can rely on my mother-in-law to look after Freddie. I was SHOOK - and completely ill-prepared and unaware of what steps to take.

The research so far suggests a couple of things:

1) Isolating the positive parties - impossible, who would parent the young scoundrels?

2) Wearing a mask constantly - again, near impossible, as both children found this to be an invigorating game of ‘how often can we tear off these masks with all our might?’

3) Try to keep your distance. This one we have tried to do. We’ve dodged kisses on the lips by serving up the cheek instead, and encouraged a lot of outdoor play to take advantage of the fresh air. The thing that became pretty obvious was that the more we tried to explain that ‘mummy and daddy are sick’, the more both kids seemingly wanted to be attached to our hips.

What social distancing looks like for us.

Basically, my husband and I have spent much of the week tapping in and out so at least one of us can get some rest. We're triple vaccinated, and thankfully we are mostly asymptomatic - and we know that we are definitely the lucky ones.

For anyone else that finds themselves in this situation, firstly, I’m sorry - it’ll probably seem really overwhelming because it is. But these are things that saved me throughout ‘hell week’ - hopefully they can help you, too.

Find the fish in the red (jelly) sea!

How we kept 2 kids under 3 busy for a whole week, while working and sick ourselves:

1. If you still have a child that takes day naps, you must capitalise on this. Use the time to put your feet up, pre-prepare some snacks or meals and take turns sleeping if your symptoms require you to do so.

2. Ensure you charge the iPad each night. If you don’t want to be stuck watching ‘Encanto’ for the 47th time on the big screen, you’ll need to be able to hand your kid the iPad and set them up in a different area so you can binge some decent telly.

3. In that same vain, try to create different pockets that can act as a change of scenery. The bean bag in the play area, to a forte near the couch, to a picnic in the backyard, to a sheet over the dining room table to create a makeshift cafe. 

4. Accept the help. Meals, coffees, medication and even an offer of some different borrowed toys are all great things that can help the week go faster.

5. Brainstorm activities the night before so you don’t come up empty and get flustered trying to entertain your bored toddler. I hid puzzle pieces in some jelly, baked ‘Raya and the Last Dragon cupcakes (i.e. Betty Crocker cupcakes with aqua and purple icing) and made playdough with my toddler.

6. If all else fails, pom poms in the bath or turn the sprinkler on!

Making 'dragon' cupcakes.

Eating 'dragon cupcakes' - round the clock

The takeaway?

Order lots of takeaway.

Okay - for real. It sucks, and it felt like the week went for four years, but I really found that being organised, and sharing the load with your partner so that you can take turns resting, really helps.

Likewise, don’t take in too much of ‘the noise’. Everyone has an opinion of what you should be doing, but the reality is that no-one (aside from medical experts) really knows enough about this disease yet to be qualified to tell you what to do. Try not to let it stress you out - and like with all parenting, listen to your gut (and monitor for symptoms!) If your kids do get sick, contact their doctor and just try to keep them as comfortable as possible. Might be an idea to stock up on some Panadol now… as everyone keeps saying, we’re all going to get it at some point. Let’s hope your dose is mild!

Best of luck to you all!

Olivia is the content editor at One Fine Baby, and mum to Eva (2) and Freddie (10 months), as well as a keen dancefloor and cappuccino enthusiast.