Oh baby, we meet lockdown arrivals
New parents reveal what it’s like to bring home baby in the strangest of times
The world will always be a strange and wondrous place for newborn babies, but the world today’s new arrivals face is a strange place for their parents, too.
Born in lockdown and, inevitably dubbed the “Quaranteenies”, newborns arrive in a world of masked faces and the smell of hand sanitiser. However, while few have met their extended families, or even know other children exist, new arrivals have probably had more precious time with their parents than ever before.
As we approach the anniversary of the start of restrictions being introduced, it sparks wonder whether having 2020 on your birth certificate is a blissful blessing... or a Covid curse.
Tomorrow, Emma Willis returns to our screens with another series of Delivering Babies, which explores what it’s like to be pregnant and give birth during a global crisis.
Filmed during the first lockdown which hit 11 months ago, the TV presenter gets in touch virtually with parentsto-be across the country whose birthing plans have been disrupted by Covid-19.
Over the course of the fourpart series on the W channel, Emma, a mum-of-three, asks couples to turn the camera on themselves and film the stress, drama and joy of bringing new life into the strange world we are currently living in.
Emma describes the babies as “pockets of hope” in these turbulent times. And she’s absolutely right. While every new life is a little miracle, the Quaranteenies are a promise of the good things to come.
Here, we speak to two new mums about their experience of pregnancy during the pandemic and the magic of motherhood in lockdown.