Hull mums on the harsh reality of having a baby in lockdown
NEW PARENTS FEEL ‘ROBBED’
AS Prime Minister Boris Johnson finished his speech announcing the very first lockdown, Toni Stephenson went into labour.
The 34-year-old had spent weeks “petrified” of having a newborn during a global pandemic, and was then one of the first women to give birth at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital during lockdown, on the morning of March 24 last year.
Coronavirus restrictions ruined all her maternity leave plans to spend time with family, join baby classes and meet new mums - time she will never get back, which means she feels “robbed” of her maternity leave with now ten month old Robyn.
And she’s not alone in feeling this way.
Several new mums have spoken to the Mial about the effects of having a baby during the pandemic, both on themselves, and on their babies, having spent their entire lives within the same four walls.
“This maternity leave has been completely different to my first, Mrs Stephenson, of Hornsea, said.
“Last time I went to every baby club going - singing, swimming, signing, sensory and made a really close group of mum friends.
“This time Robyn hasn’t made any friends, we have no photos of her with baby pals or at sensory classes or soft play.
“That makes me sad, and I do think she has missed out - me too. I’m really disappointed. It does really feel like I’ve spent a year waiting for my maternity leave to begin.”
For the last six weeks, Mrs Stephenson has spent her maternity leave homeschooling her five-yearold daughter Florence, with tenmonth-old Robyn in tow.
She added: “It has been the most intense couple of months of my life in all honesty.
“I’ve tried to make the very best of it that I can, and obviously love being around my kids, but I feel like I’d burn out if I carried on like this for too much longer.”
‘I feel 100 per cent robbed, I’ve never cried so much.’
Bekki Grange, 31, a mum of two says she has “wished away the days” of her maternity leave, just because she wants some normality.
“I feel 100 per cent robbed,” She said.
“Robbed of my pregnancy too really, no one hardly saw my bump. And he is my last baby.
“I’ve not managed to get to any baby groups, yet with my daughter we were doing about three classes a week from a few months old.
“My son has seen one other baby in real life and he’s probably seen the faces of fewer than 15 people in his entire life looking in at him in the pram.
“I do worry about the impact it will have, especially on how he will be starting nursery, that is a big concern.
“I’m feel like I’m wishing the days away because I just want normality.”
Mrs Grange, mum to Claire, three and six month old Callum, said she’s never cried so much as she has this past year, and being stuck in lockdown with a newborn baby and a three-year-old has affected her mental health.
She added: “Emotionally, it’s been tough. I’ve never cried so much.
“The days are long and relentless but just like that my son is six months today and I’ve wished away every single day of his life, watching figures of deaths and cases and waiting for the next update in the hope of the light at the end of the tunnel.”
‘It has felt really lonely and isolating at times’
First-time mum Veena Kanwarjit, 31, says she’s felt really lonely and isolated at times.
She said: “It’s been tough. My entire pregnancy and the first three months of my son’s life have been in lockdown.
“Our parents came to see him when he was first born and stayed for a few weeks, but other than that we’ve been completely alone.
“I’m lucky that my husband had a total of seven weeks off, but since he’s been back to work in January, it’s been me and baby all day long.
“They say it’s takes a village to raise a child, but due to Covid we’ve not been able to have the support of our family as they live four hours away in South London.
“It has felt really lonely and isolating at times and not how I envisaged my maternity leave to be at all.
“I hope that I’ll be able to enjoy some part of my maternity leave outside of the four walls of my home, and for my son to properly enjoy the company of others and the chance to interact with other babies.”
Each mum said they are grateful for their babies health and don’t want to let the pandemic “ruin” their happiness of their new arrival, and are trying to stay positive, but there’s no denying the effects of having a lockdown baby are farreaching and no doubt longlasting.