Chicago husband who can’t visit wife in hospital sets up weekly date from sidewalk

The coronavirus pandemic has prevented Robert Conlin from visiting his pregnant wife, Shona Moeller, who has been on bed rest in a Chicago-area hospital for the past six weeks. But every week he sets up a table on the sidewalk outside where she can see him and they have a FaceTime “date night.”

“I think it’s a little glimpse of some normalcy,” Conlin told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Friday.

Conlin sends an entrée from their favorite restaurant to Moeller’s hospital room and brings his own to the sidewalk, according to “Good Morning America.” The couple then video chats during their meal.

Moeller has been in the hospital since April 13. At 20 weeks into her pregnancy, she was put on bed rest in order to keep from delivering too early. But the hospital has a temporary no visitor policy due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I remember the day before she went into the hospital and we were both just sobbing and I was thinking how could Shona possibly be going through this without me by her side,” Conlin told ABC. “It was really sad and scary, but we just focused on the baby and tried to make the best of the situation.”

Conlin and Moeller, who run a relationship coaching business called “We Meet Again” together, said he will be allowed in the delivery room. They have named their expected son Forest.

“I would have never imagined that our story would be shared in the way that it has,” Conlin wrote on social media. “Shona, Forest, and I could not be more grateful. It makes us feel less alone in all of this and has given all three of us a purpose.”

The couple also has a GoFundMe, which Conlin wrote on Instagram was launched by their doula.

“These funds are helping with Shona’s 3-month hospital stay, Forest’s upcoming NICU stay, therapy, healing work, meals, gas, and peace of mind,” he wrote. “Our birth story has been far from the norm and having a Doula still support us has been wonderful.”