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，愛人跟我說：我懷孕了。在接下來的兩個月里，隨著我們的孩子在子宮里長大，她每天累得要睡18個小時。經過一番折騰，我們終于獲準去醫院做超聲波檢查。2022年4月的一些日子，我可以離開我們的小區，在上海市中心荒涼的街道上走很久很久。我應該離開嗎，我們應該回美國嗎？那時候的每次散步，我都感覺封控的上海和我的家鄉很相似：很多樹；街上的人不多；空氣很新鮮；人們沒什么事做。我盡了最大努力確保愛人有健康的食物吃，后來我收到了一份蔬菜包，內容不明，打開一看，里面有8公斤生菜。有一次我們排隊做核酸檢測時，我還設法弄到了一袋雞蛋（40個）。在整個居家過程中，每當我感到不耐煩或憤怒，只要想到我的兒子我就能平靜下來。我告訴自己，不要成為負能量的來源，現在是非常時期，家人需要你的支持。最終，是我們未出生的兒子在這段時期讓我們倆都保持了理智。