Coronavirus WHAT IT’S LIKE IN LOCKDOWN
being admitted again.”
Caleigh, from Penrhiwfer, said the family had embraced being home together with their two older children, who are eight and five, without any visitors.
“It is very strange. It was harder being in the hospital though. Not having the family there to meet them was heartbreaking.
“We’ve embraced not having visitors while being home and used the time to bond with them.
“It is horrible not having family meet them though or being able to just nip to the shop to get something they need.”
Caleigh made friends with two other mothers when she was on the ward and she said they made her experience so much better.
“We kept each other going when we were struggling. Other days though I just shut my curtains and locked myself away – it was tough. The staff were wonderful, mind.”
Caleigh and the twins were discharged from hospital on Wednesday, Caleigh’s birthday, and are now home.
BETHAN AND RAHIL SAYED
For Plaid Cymru AM Bethan Sayed, who gave birth to her first child Idris Abbas Sayed on April 2, the one thing that really struck her about the new hospital rules was the moment her husband Rahil came to pick them up after a six-day stay in hospital.
“I think the harrowing thing for me was when my husband came to pick us up with the car seat,” said the 38-year-old.
“There was an X taped onto the floor that he had to put the car seat down on and then go back outside.
“Then the midwife said I had to put the baby in and put the harness on and she couldn’t help as they are doing the two-metre social distancing.
“I had this plan in my head to film us walking out carrying the baby in the car seat in a romantic way, but my husband wasn’t with me to do that.”
Bethan, who represents the South Wales West region, said there was a line of cars outside the hospital with men waiting their turn to be called in.
Reflecting on how the restrictions on visitors affected her time in hospital, Bethan said it was hard but other mothers on the ward offered reassurance and help when it was needed.
“We were talking about how we felt – it was just general comforting stuff. We joked about how antisocial our babies would be.”
Bethan was admitted to hospital on Monday, March 30, to be induced. She began active labour on the Wednesday evening and 38-year-old Rahil was with her overnight until baby Idris was born via emergency caesarean on the Thursday at 6am.
“It was hard – I had just gone through quite a traumatic operation which I had not prepared for. He was with us for about an hour – he obviously wanted to spend more time with the new baby, and I literally could not move. It was far from ideal.”
Since arriving home from the hospital last Saturday Bethan said she had been up and down when thinking about how her parents and other friends and family won’t see Idris for a while.
Like for many parents, the one benefit of lockdown means Rahil will be working from home for the forseeable future, so the family of three have more time to bond together.
STACEY FORD AND
LEE ARUNDELL
New parents Stacey Ford and Lee Arundell from Pentre have also been enjoying spending more time as a three since lockdown began.
They have also been adapting to the change in support from health visitors and have taken to weighing their five-week-old with a luggage weighing scales instead.
“Because I am breastfeeding you can’t really tell how much they are drinking every day, so I was just a bit worried and wanted to make sure he was putting on weight.
“Obviously you can tell by looking at him as well, but the health visitor would usually weigh them for you just to keep track so we have been using a luggage weighing scales,” said 32-year-old Stacey.
Stacey gave birth before the lockdown was announced, so had a relatively normal two weeks with Macsen meeting the couple’s family and friends. But things changed significantly after the lockdown was announced.
“It is not ideal as a first-time parent – you have so many questions and issues that you might ask a health visitor, like just to know that baby is putting on weight.
“I have rung them for advice but with so much going on I don’t really want to bother them.”
One perk of social distancing guidelines and people being made to work from home where possible means that Stacey’s partner Lee is now home to spend more time with the baby too, which Stacey said is making things much easier.
“He was only back in work for a week but now he is home. I was saying yesterday I am worried he (Macsen) will be used to this and not seeing other people.
“If everything was normal my plan was to take him to baby massage classes and things like that, so I’m trying to do those things online now instead.”