So I had a baby in lockdown. 


Being pregnant during a pandemic, was so different from the pregnancy journeys my friends had been on, and not how I had imagined it to be. 

Of course soooo many babies were made in lockdown, with people on furlough, working from home, or losing their jobs. It's no surprise that there was a baby boom. I personally know of at least 6 lockdown babies made! 

There were no antenatal classes to attend, I was isolated from friends and family due to social distancing, and I had to go through a lot of it on my own. 

I remember being so scared to go to my 12 week scan. I had been this far in pregnancy before, and was told the worst news during a scan. I needed someone there with me. 

Finding out I was pregnant this time around was a whole rollercoaster in itself. I had given up on the hope of having any children after issues with my cycle. I didn't think it possible. Then one day I had pains so bad I couldn't walk and had to go into A&E where they told me I was pregnant. I had to have a few tests and scans as they suspected ectopic, but thankfully I was told at 9 weeks that it all seemed as it should be. It didn't make that 12 week scan any less scary. 

Sitting alone in that waiting room was the longest 10mins of my life. I needed someone to hold my hand, and it wasn't allowed. Going into that room and seeing my baby for the first time on screen, there was no one to share my excitement and relief. My partner had to wait by the phone, his anxiety as high as mine as he waited for that call. 

I cried when I saw her on the screen, bouncing around non stop. She was such an active little jellybean. 

All my appointments were the same. The first time I heard her heartbeat, all my midwife appointments. I booked an early gender scan at 16 weeks just so that I would be able to have him there to see her on the screen and hear her heartbeat. 

My 20 week scan, I was however allowed to take someone with me. It felt good to have someone to share that joy with and to cry with as we watched her moving around again. 

When I used to think of pregnancy, and when you see it on the TV, there are so many antenatal classes people attend. Breathing techniques, birth preparation, I had to get all of mine from the internet. I didn't get to have a baby shower, or to go baby shopping with friends. I couldn't have anyone feeling my bump and feeling her kick, everything was shared via video. 

The anxiety about giving birth was doubled by the stories of births in the peak of lockdown. Some said that they had to be left alone until they reached a certain point, and only then could their partners be in the room. Others had done the whole thing alone. 

The thought of the birth process was scary enough without the thought of having to go through the most part of it alone. 

I was told by my midwife that I was able to have just one birth partner. As much as I knew I would need my mum there, I couldn't take this away from the dad and so I had chose to have him there by my side. 

Thankfully he was able to be there with me every step of the way, from when I went in to be checked over, put on the monitor, all the way through delivery and my C-section. He was able to stay with me in recovery and until evening on the ward. Our daughter had to have some time in NICU, but we were able to both visit her together 24 hours a day. I am so thankful that rules had been relaxed slightly by time our turn came. 

I could not have managed all of that without someone by my side. When she was born, no one else was allowed in to visit except the birth partner. 

I had been through a traumatic birth. After going from 1cm to 4cm in an hour and taken to delivery, I then stopped dilating, taking hours to get to 5cm. I then went fast again as they checked thinking I should be around 7, and instead I was almost fully. They had me try to push for over an hour, before deciding the baby was stuck. I then was taken to theatre to attempt forceps. This failed too and so a C-section was the only option. I was told that she was very low, and stuck so badly due to me having a small pelvis. To get her out, they had to make a cut further up and get her out by her legs. They told me the next day on the ward, that I am lucky she is so strong and made it through, as every time I tried to push, her heartrate was dipping. 


7th April 2021, 8:31am my Nyla Lorena came into the world. 7lb 8oz and my biggest dream come true. 

All I wanted was my mum to hug me, but I had to wait until I was home. 

No balloons and visits from friends and family around my bed. No cooing over her and cuddles. She spent 2 night in NICU and I was alone on the ward. I spent as much time there as I could manage, even walking myself there from the ward above because no one was available to take me in a chair. 

Coming home, I still couldn't have people around to visit and meet this beautiful, perfect little doll, due to the risk of Covid. 

It was a week nearly before my mum could come and hug me. We had to limit visits to immediate family only. 

In a way it was both a blessing and a curse the coming home bit. On one hand, it left us with all the time to just be a family without the influx of constant visitors. On the other hand, once my partner went back to work, it left me quite lonely. 

There were no mother and baby groups until she was 4 months old!

Even now when I see people posting baby showers, I get jealous. My first baby, and probably the only one I will have, I never got to experience this. The new-born and maternity photoshoots, had to be missed. Beautiful experiences, I never got to have from my pregnancy. 

Now lockdown is over and we are getting to experience things like baby groups, and go out and meet other mums and babies Nylas age, I can see how great they are for both mother and baby. From these sessions Nyla has learnt things like sharing, and knows how to play with other babies, something being stuck in the house with me everyday could not have shown her. 

While being pregnant during a pandemic was far from the pregnancy I had dreamt about, I am just thankful and grateful to have had a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby girl at such a hard and scary time. 


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