Pregnancy always comes with a whole bundle of worries such as; is my baby healthy? Am I eating right? Should I or shouldn’t I be exercising? Prams cost how much?! But if you happen to be pregnant during a pandemic you experience non-stop worry.
I found out I was expecting my little boy 3 weeks before lockdown. When lockdown officially began, I was 9 weeks pregnant and because I work in essential retail my work were not prepared to furlough me at that point in time. For me I saw only one option was to be signed off sick and receive only statutory sick pay as the government advice and health advice was so vague for pregnant women.
Pregnant in a Pandemic: the unknown
No one knew if COVID-19 would be harmful to pregnant women and their babies and the advice varied for different stages of pregnancy. Only women that had reached 28 weeks pregnancy were to shield and the rest of us were to be thrown to the wolves, so to speak. Every government update made me feel sick as I looked out the window to see the streets bare.
Every update left me with more and more questions about mine and my baby’s safety and health, no one had any answers. With it no longer being safe to enjoy the little things in pregnancy like shopping around for cute baby clothes, going to appointments and scans with my partner, going to prenatal classes and meeting other mums to be, testing out prams and car seats to find the perfect fit. All of those simple things became dangerous hazards that must be avoided in order to protect my baby. However, on the plus side no one had to see my pregnancy acne in full swing.
Being Furloughed
When my work finally began furloughing staff, I was so grateful, as along with the health stress came the money worries of being on statutory sick pay just to stay safe. Furlough by no means eliminated those worries but it softened the blow significantly. However, it came with the anxiety that every time I would receive a phone call or text message from work it would be the start of my 48 hour countdown that they wanted me back in to work and that I would have to fight to get in contact with my doctor to get their advice to stay shielding. The panic would bring me to tears as I would have to fight to stay safe and not interact with the public.
My partner was not able to come with me for any of my scans despite our best efforts. This was extremely scary for me as I was given so much information that just went in one ear and straight out the other. I was so overwhelmed I had to ask for directions to ultrasound 3 times. I didn’t know the right questions to ask the sonographer, I didn’t know when I should be worried and when I shouldn’t be, I was constantly googling things like “what is a posterior placenta?” “Is my placenta too low?” “Is my baby moving enough?” Not having someone there to ask the questions whilst you’re too bewildered and in awe at seeing your baby on screen is nerve-wracking. So, we decided to get a private scan so that my partner could be there and experience seeing our little one wriggle around for himself and ask the important questions for us. It was such a calming experience having him there and how professional the staff were and in particular how clean it was too.
Positivity
It hasn’t been all doom and gloom though. I have loved every minute of my pregnancy even with the stress and anxiety due to the outside world, but nothing can take away from how precious it is to see your baby for the first time on the ultrasound, feeling their kicks, crying at every tiny item of clothing, and eventually holding them for the first time. If I could go back and give myself any advice to get through the pandemic pregnant it would be to cherish those moments and tune the rest of the world out to just enjoy pregnancy the way it was supposed to be.
Katie is currently working for Santander whilst she aspires to become a permanent traveller and explore the world.
