Being pregnant in a pandemic is weird, it is odd, it is slightly terrifying and it brings on a lot more anxiety than I expected. Yet I feel a little weird talking about because I made this choice completely knowing what I was embarking on.
I am not like the women who were pregnant and suddenly found them slap bang in the middle of a pandemic, but I am amongst a growing number of women who have decided to try for a baby in this volatile situation.
Hard to mention
It is because I decided this that I have found it hard to bring up and talk about, because I knew the situation we were in (although to be fair in August things looked a lot brighter than they turned out to be) and I went ahead anyway. I knew what I was getting myself into.
Not wanting to wait
Truth be told was that once we decided we wanted to try for another baby we didn’t really want to wait, pandemic or not. In fact it was the pandemic and just a lot of ongoing things that happened in early 2020 that made me feel like our family wasn’t complete in the first place.
I am in my mid-30’s and conscious of some of the associated health risks that can bring and ultimately, once we decided to grow our family, after being one and done for the longest time, we decided that the smaller age gap the better between our children. Also, most of all it felt like the right time. We didn’t know how long this situation would last and we didn’t want to delay growing our family indefinitely. It also took us a couple of years to naturally fall pregnant with our daughter and we didn’t know how long we’d have to wait, evidently not long at all as we got pregnant immediatey. We made our decision knowing everything that could potentially be ahead, in pandemic terms at least.
Strange time to be pregnant
All that aside, it is still a weird time to be pregnant. The early part of my pregnancy took place before maternity restrictions were lifted. I went to my booking appointment and my 12 week scan alone. At my 12 week scan I found out our baby potentially had gastroschisis (which we were so pleased to find out wasn’t the case). My husband was allowed to a couple of fetal medicine scans because of the issues, but soon back out waiting in the car once we got the all-clear. He was able to come in for our 20 week scan and that’s him done now until labour, despite me having many, many appointments with midwives and consultants because of pre-eclampsia in my first pregnancy.
I haven’t minded doing it alone however, I knew that was the situation when I fell pregnant and maybe it is because I am a second time mum because I dare say I might have felt different if it was my first.
A pregnancy in isolation
The weirdest part is being pregnant in isolation. Nobody apart from my husband and daughter have actually seen me pregnant and for the most part by the time we are allowed to see people again I will have had our son. I will have done an entire pregnancy and nobody will really have seen it.
It’s definitely a weird one. Some days are weirder than others. I have no regrets deciding to have a baby in the middle of a pandemic. My care has been completely exceptional despite everything the health service is dealing with and we’ll have a great story to tell our baby boy one day. I’m certain this is an experience I won’t forget in a hurry.