Lockdown Babies

Kim had two babies during the pandemic, both very different and difficult experiences. When Kim fell pregnant for a second time, she knew from the start that she needed support for her mental health. Despite raising this at every single midwife and doctor's appointment for the entirety of her pregnancy, Kim was told repeatedly that she didn’t qualify for help.

Natalie was one of the early guests on the Lockdown Babies podcast and she’s now had her second baby, 2 years on from her first. Natalie tells host Phillippa she gave birth to her second son on the kitchen floor after her labour progressed too quickly to get to the hospital!

Natalie spent 5 days in hospital while baby Alby was treated for an infection and says while parts of her pregnancy and birth were “better” this time around, unfortunately she was still impacted by Covid restrictions.

Like so many mums who had their babies during the pandemic, Sarah says she’s been left feeling angry and let down about the pregnancy, labour and birth she endured, in part, due to Covid restrictions.

After a difficult and traumatic birth, she was left with Sepsis and a few weeks later blood clots in her lungs. The experience has left Sarah with PSTD and she says it’s still something that affects her day-to-day life now. Sarah and host Phillippa also talk  about feeling “stuck” in 2020 / 2021 and being unable to move forward with their lives.

Like many mums who had their babies during lockdown in 2020, Gabrielle was extremely anxious leading up to the birth of her baby in June 2020. She says she was pushed to a “break down” before being offered extra allowances to have her partner by her side for her induction.

After a difficult labour and birth, Gabrielle’s nightmare was only just beginning. She tells host Phillippa her story of being readmitted back into hospital with feeding issues and the hellish days that followed which she says left her with PTSD.

Charlotte knew going into her pregnancy that she needed support with her mental health but says it was a battle to get anyone to take her seriously. She tells host Phillippa that she found attending appointments alone extremely distressing and like many pregnant women, she was terrified of catching Covid.

It wasn’t until her baby was 6 months old that Charlotte says her mental health really started to deteriorate and after fighting for the help she deserves, she says she’s doing much better now.

Katy’s baby was born at 32 weeks in May 2020, at the height of the pandemic. There were no warning signs that her baby might arrive early so as you can imagine it was a total shock. Katy tells host Phillippa the story of how baby Isabelle arrived so quickly and how Covid screening meant her husband missed his daughter's birth by just a few minutes. We also hear about baby Isobelle’s month in the neonatal intensive care unit and the toll this took on Katy’s mental health.

Gemma gave birth to her second baby in June 2020 and says she was left unable to pick her newborn up or easily access pain relief during the 2 days she spent in hospital. She tells host Phillippa that she was left crying in pain as she waited for someone to bring her morphine after a long labour which ended in a c-section. Gemma also draws on the comparisons and differences between having a baby in 2016 vs 2020.

This week on the podcast, Hannah shares her experience of having her baby in September 2020. The British Government had just launched their “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme but as you’ll hear, Hannah wasn’t allowed to have her husband with her while she was induced and laboured alone in hospital. An ordeal that lasted 33 hours. 

During her pregnancy and after her baby was born, Hannah knew her mental health was deteriorating but was told by a midwife “people were dying” and she “needed to get on with it”.

Destiny’s journey into motherhood was far from smooth. After a complicated pregnancy and many stressful visits to hospital, her baby was born prematurely at 30 weeks and spent the next 5 weeks fighting for his life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Destiny says her son was transferred to a different hospital hours after he was born - leaving her unable to meet him for 2 days as she was forced to wait for a negative Covid test.

Destiny was left with PTSD and Post-Natal Depression from the ordeal and says she believes the Covid restrictions in place in June 2020 played a huge part in her trauma.

This week on the podcast, we hear from Rebecca, another lockdown mum who was forced to be apart from her family after her second baby was born in March 2021. She tells host Phillippa that although her daughter was born a whole year after the pandemic started, “it felt as though nothing in maternity had changed since the first lockdown”. Rebecca says she was left with PTSD from the ordeal and she doesn’t understand why maternity restrictions have taken so long to be lifted.

Like many women who had babies during lockdown, Daisie was left to look after her newborn baby in hospital for 5 days without the support of her husband and without a single visitor. Daisie says the first few days of her baby’s life were spent angry, paranoid and “planning her escape” from hospital. Daisie tells host Phillippa how she’s now using her experience of postnatal depression to help other women.

When Jenna turned up alone to her routine 20 week scan, she never could have predicted what she was about to hear.

This week on the podcast Jenna tells her story of learning about her daughter’s limb difference without the support of her partner by her side and the lasting impact that moment has had on her. She also tells us how she was separated from her baby for nearly a week when her appendix burst just 3 weeks after her baby was born.

Midwife Laura: “It was very difficult to see the key principles of midwifery being eroded”

Anna gave birth to her second baby in February 2020, just weeks before all of lives were flipped upside down due to the pandemic. Anna describes how she juggled a newborn and a toddler as we were plunged into lockdown and how she fought for months to get concerns about her daughter's health taken seriously.

This week we hear from Francesca Treadaway, mum to George and Engagement Director at the charity Birthrights. Francesca tells us how her own traumatic pandemic birth led her to a new career with Birthrights - a charity which champions respectful care during pregnancy and childbirth by protecting human rights. We hear about the amazing work Birthrights did throughout the pandemic, and continue to do to support families.

Natasha tells her story of having her baby in March 2021, a year after the first lockdown but still plagued with restrictions. Natasha also shares the heartbreak of being separated from her family in Canada until her baby was 6 months old.

Mónica’s daughter was born when our supermarket shelves were empty and you couldn’t buy nappies and essential supplies for your baby. She shares her struggles in the run up to her baby being born, particularly around her intense anxiety about running out of food and medicine for her family. Mónica also talks about moving back to her home country during the pandemic due to feeling so isolated and abandoned.

This week we hear from Lily who had severe pre-eclampsia when her baby was born in December 2020. Due to Covid restrictions, Lily was forced to be separated from her baby when he was just a few days old, something she says has resulted in lasting trauma for her and her family. Lily tells the shocking story of how her complaint to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission was thrown out and how her concerns were dismissed by the hospital she was treated at.

Polly shares her story of being induced alone in November 2020 and her struggles during the lockdown that followed. Polly says she felt really isolated in the first months of her son’s life with no access to support from friends and family or from healthcare professionals. And she says she knows she still has some work to do to process what she went through before she considers having another baby.

Anissa gave birth to her baby boy in March 2020, a matter of days after we were put into the first lockdown. She recalls her story of giving birth at such an unprecedented time, including 3 days alone in hospital without a single visitor. Anissa also talks about having a midwife appointment on her front door step and feeling a lack of support in the first year of her son’s life.

Natalie is about to have her second baby two years on from the birth of her ‘Lockdown Baby’. She reflects on her experience last time and says she hopes lessons have been learnt. 

Amy O'Connor spent hours alone in active labour before her husband was allowed to be by her side for the birth of their son. Whilst Amy says she has now come to terms with how her baby came into the world, she's angry that Covid is still affecting how she wants to parent and is frustrated by a lack of access to in-person healthcare for her now 1 year-old.

In this week’s episode, we hear from Grace who was forced to live apart from her husband for some of her pregnancy as he worked on the NHS front lines in a Covid intensive care ward. Grace, who's a nurse, also talks about the lack of support she feels she was given postpartum. 

This week we hear from Fae who reflects on some of the positives of having her baby in lockdown. Whilst Fae says she’s angry that some women were forced to labour and give birth alone, she’s grateful her family was able to enjoy the newborn bubble together without tons of visitors.

Sam says her birth experience was wonderful and she can’t fault the care she received from her midwives but she says she felt totally abandoned after her baby was born and was failing to gain weight. Sam says health visitors didn’t take her concerns seriously, something she blames covid restrictions for. Sam also talks about the impact having a baby during the pandemic has had on her husband.

Jenna Topham shares her story of being separated from family during her pregnancy and after her daughter was born. She also talks about the lasting impact spending two weeks alone in hospital has had on her and her family. 

It's been 2 years since pregnant women across England were ordered to stay at home and to isolate as an unknown virus turned all of our lives upside down.

The weeks and months that followed saw expectant mothers give birth alone, tiny newborns shut away from the world and many families left without adequate postpartum care - all while our healthcare system did it’s best to keep us safe.

I'm Phillippa Guillou and I’ve been documenting the remarkable and at times heartbreaking stories of the families who welcomed their little ones in the middle of a global pandemic.

Join me as I share the stories of the ‘Lockdown Babies’.