On the third day of Shanghai’s lockdown, she told me: I’m pregnant. For the next two months, she slept for 18 hours a day, as our child grew in her womb; after a bit of fiddling around, we got permission to go to the hospital for ultrasounds and checkups. Some days, I could leave our compound, and I’d take long walks through the deserted streets of downtown Shanghai, April 2022. Should I leave, should we go home to the United States? On these walks, it sometimes occurred to me that Shanghai during lockdown was pretty similar to my hometown: lots of trees; not many people in the streets; fresh, clean air; not much to do. I did my best to secure her healthy food; I got a delivery of vegetables, unspecified in content, and opened it to find 8 kilograms of lettuce. Later on, I managed to snag a bag of 40 eggs while we were in line for a COVID test. Throughout, at times when I felt impatient or angry, our son helped me to calm myself down. Don’t be a source of negative energy, I told myself; right now, she needs your support. In the end, our unborn son kept us both sane through the experience.
上海封城的第三天，爱人跟我说：我怀孕了。在接下来的两个月里，随着我们的孩子在子宫里长大，她每天累得要睡18个小时。经过一番折腾，我们终于获准去医院做超声波检查。2022年4月的一些日子，我可以离开我们的小区，在上海市中心荒凉的街道上走很久很久。我应该离开吗，我们应该回美国吗？那时候的每次散步，我都感觉封控的上海和我的家乡很相似：很多树；街上的人不多；空气很新鲜；人们没什么事做。我尽了最大努力确保爱人有健康的食物吃，后来我收到了一份蔬菜包，内容不明，打开一看，里面有8公斤生菜。有一次我们排队做核酸检测时，我还设法弄到了一袋鸡蛋（40个）。在整个居家过程中，每当我感到不耐烦或愤怒，只要想到我的儿子我就能平静下来。我告诉自己，不要成为负能量的来源，现在是非常时期，家人需要你的支持。最终，是我们未出生的儿子在这段时期让我们俩都保持了理智。