Lockdown Rainbows - Amanda's Story

Not only was I pregnant in a pandemic, I was pregnant with our rainbow baby after loosing our first child to still birth the previous year.

The first lockdown happened just as I found out I was pregnant, I was still on maternity leave after the loss of our first born and I was extremely frightened how the pandemic was going to impact our journey.

We had been told at the time we lost our son what extra care we would receive in any future pregnancies but I knew that would all change because of coronavirus, and it did.

Firstly we were meant to get a cardiac scan for our second child but Covid put a stop to that. My partner couldn’t come to the 12 or 20 week scan due to restrictions and this was really hard for us both. After having a scan at 39 weeks with our first born and being told there was no heartbeat made scans in my second pregnancy very very stressful.

We still received our consultant appointments although I had to go to most on my own. We have a very lovely consultant and midwife so in that respect we were very well looked after.

The end of my pregnancy became very stressful as our little one stopped growing so our planned c section got brought forward to 37 weeks.

I was anxious about going into hospital and having surgery but I really didn’t feel like Covid was having any impact on our time on the labour ward. My partner was with me the whole time, the care was amazing and our gorgeous rainbow baby made it into our arms safely.

It got tough for me when it was time to move to the postnatal ward and my partner had to leave. I cried for nearly 24 hours straight. Our little one was having problems with his blood sugars and temperature so was closely monitored. I felt so alone dealing with this. All I could do was text and call my partner but it just isn’t the same. The midwives were doing their best to support me but the ward was busy and all I wanted was to be home. Luckily even after a c section I was allowed to go home the next day.

We could finally all be together as a family. We got great at home care from the midwives and health visitor. We actually received extra visits from them due to our son only weighing 5lb 4oz.

He is now 10 weeks and I’m struggling with not seeing friends and family. As he is our rainbow baby after such a horrendous loss only a year before, he means so much to so many people and they are all missing out on him.

I must stay grateful for what we do have and focus on the days to come where we can introduce our precious gift to our friends and family 🌈💙💙💙🌈

Amanda Horscroft