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Expecting A Baby During Coronavirus: Gender Reveal Just Isn't The Same

Until a few weeks ago, Will Thompson was running audiovisual services for big tech industry conferences.
Courtesy of Will Thompson
Until a few weeks ago, Will Thompson was running audiovisual services for big tech industry conferences.

Will Thompson and his wife Annie are expecting their first child this fall.

But because of restrictions at local hospitals, Thompson has not been able to accompany Annie to her prenatal doctor's visits, including one where they expect to learn their baby's gender.

Thompson chokes up talking about this: "My wife is an incredibly strong woman, and she's amazing. I just — I wish I could."

The Denver couple plan to ask their doctor to write "boy" or "girl" inside an envelope, so they can open it later, together.

Before losing his job a few weeks ago, Thompson was running audiovisual services for big tech industry conferences. Even when in-person meetings stopped because of the coronavirus, Thompson thought there would be plenty of work.

Annie Thompson, pictured with the couple's dog Roger. Will Thompson has not been able to accompany Annie to her prenatal doctor's visits, including one where they expected to learn their baby's gender.
/ Courtesy of Will Thompson
/
Courtesy of Will Thompson
Annie Thompson, pictured with the couple's dog Roger. Will Thompson has not been able to accompany Annie to her prenatal doctor's visits, including one where they expected to learn their baby's gender.

"The day I got let go, I talked to a new client who said they had a conference that they wanted to go full virtual on. And they had a starting budget of $200,000," Thompson said. "I got a phone call probably about an hour later saying I'd been terminated, which was a bit of a shock, obviously."

Still, with millions of other Americans also getting pink slips, he couldn't take it personally.

"I've had family ask me if it was hard, you know, emotionally applying for unemployment, and my answer is no," Thompson said. "I think if this weren't such a devastating thing to everybody, it would be different."

He's enjoyed spending quality time with Annie, an educator who's working from home.

Read more stories in Faces Of The Coronavirus Recession.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Scott Horsley is NPR's Chief Economics Correspondent. He reports on ups and downs in the national economy as well as fault lines between booming and busting communities.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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