Birth Story: The Ups and Downs of having lockdown babies

By Ella Diprose

28 February 2020: The first COVID-19 case is reported in New Zealand. I was 30 weeks pregnant with our first child and until now had been quite oblivious to what was starting to happen around the world with this virus. Soon words like self isolation, alert levels and lockdown would become a part of our everyday vocab, and this would change my whole experience of being a first time mum. 19 March 2020: Our borders close to all but New Zealand citizens and permanent residents. I was now 37 weeks pregnant and had finished up at work and was at home on maternity leave getting ready for the arrival of our baby girl. I was ready by now for her to come, I was feeling very big and uncomfortable but also so excited to meet her. 21 March 2020: The Government introduces the 4-tiered Alert Level system to help combat COVID-19. The Prime Minister announces that New Zealand is at Alert Level 2. This is when it became very real, instead of blissfully pottering about my house “nesting” and folding baby clothes, I was now watching the daily TV updates and checking for what each change in alert level meant for Palmerston North Hospital and what it would look like for me giving birth and afterwards. 23 March 2020: The Prime Minister announces New Zealand has moved to Alert Level 3, effective immediately. In 48 hours, New Zealand will move to Alert Level 4. This would have been the night for our last CBE class at the Parents Centre but instead it had to be via Zoom, another term I had never heard of before this year. Little did I know, there would be lots of Zoom meetings, classes and appointments in our future. 6 April 2020, my due date, and we had been in Level 4 lockdown for 2 weeks. Our baby girl hadn’t made an early appearance yet and I was now trying all the tricks to get labour started. 3 days later about 1am I woke up with what felt like period cramps or twinges. Could this be it? Everyone said I would just know when it was

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actually labour and not just Braxton Hicks. I was so excited I shook Sam awake and said I think I might be in labour. I knew it could be hours until I was in established labour as this was my first baby, so we decided to get some rest while we could and went back to sleep. Well, Sam went back to sleep and I lay there just resting, too excited to sleep. 2 hours later the pains were still coming but they were very mild and I could still handle them just lying down in bed. By 4:30am I was convinced this was labour and not just practice so I woke

Sam again and we started the little cycle our midwife had suggested for when early labour starts. A warm bath for 30-40 minutes to see if things slowed down and eased off. Then rest back in bed to try get some sleep for an hour or so. Then an hour or two up and being active, walking the hallway, bouncing on my swiss ball. We timed the contractions for 30 minutes to see if they were getting longer and closer together. But no, still only about 30 seconds long and still very irregular. Then it was back to the start of the cycle again. Sometime around midday the contractions were getting stronger and lasting longer. I tried so many positions to get comfier and ease the pain. My favourite was standing up leaning forwards on the kitchen bench rocking from side to side. About 1pm the contractions were finally lasting a minute or longer and were so intense I couldn’t talk through them. But they were still not regular, they would be 2 minutes, then 5, then 3, then 7 minutes apart and my midwife had told us to only ring her when they were 4-5 minutes apart and regular and all a minute or longer. We called the midwife at 1:30pm and she listened while I had a contraction and agreed it sounded like they were getting more intense and I was probably in established labour and asked how did I feel, was I coping, did I want to come into the hospital? I was so afraid of getting there and being turned away and sent home if I was only 2-3cm dilated. I said I would do a couple more hours at home and then ring her again when they got more regular. By 3:30pm the contractions were very intense and I just couldn’t handle it anymore at home. We rang the midwife back and made a plan to

meet her at the hospital. The car ride, although only about 10 minutes to the hospital, felt like ages, and having a contraction while stopped at a red traffic light was agony. We got to the hospital, only to be stopped at the entrance to the delivery suite by a security guard and told that Sam couldn’t come in due to Covid Level 4 restrictions. What?! I would have lost it except I was distracted by the many contractions which were coming much faster now. A phone call to our midwife and several contractions later and we were both let in. My biggest fear moment, would I be more than 3 cm dilated or would I be sent home? My midwife checked my progress and I was 7cm! I was thrilled! Not long now. I tried the gas and air when the next contraction came. I remember thinking, “Is this even doing anything?” So I chucked it away and kept focusing on rocking side to side through the contractions. My beautiful baby girl was born 2 hours later. After just over an hour of pushing and many position changes for me, she was finally here. It’s unlike anything else you will ever experience

in this world when your baby gets put on your chest and you’re staring at this little mini me of you. Pure love. What happened next was not the beautiful golden hour I had dreamed of however. My daughter came into this world screaming and in the hour that followed didn’t seem to stop screaming. She didn’t do that lovely first latch after birth and feed, she didn’t even calm down when on my skin.

While this is happening I’m vaguely aware of my midwife explaining she’s not sure if all my placenta has come out. I’ve also had a 2nd degree tear but it’s complicated so she calls for a doctor to come in. I don’t remember a lot about all this next part except that a lot of people entered the room over the next hour. I was in a lot of pain and my baby girl was still very red, very screamy and just not settled. I had to pass her to my husband who had brief cuddles while the midwives and doctors sorted me. My midwife was checking baby over because she felt very hot and was doing some coughing noises as she cried. I hear that she’s got a fever and that they’re going to call the paeds doctors to come in and check her over. Quite quickly the paeds team comes in and once they’ve examined her they turn to us and explain she has a fever and might have an infection, she needs antibiotics. Her breathing is also very fast and she may need some help with some oxygen. They give us the news she will have to be taken to neonates and may spend a few days there. I was in shock. My beautiful little girl was wheeled out, and then all was quiet and we were left in a very empty and very quiet room. It was then we decided to name her Sofia Grace Diprose. Due to the Covid Level 4 restrictions my husband Sam had to leave the hospital 4 hours after our daughter was born and he wasn’t allowed back in. It was heartbreaking, first being separated from my daughter and then knowing that only too soon I would also be separated from Sam. For him, this meant he left and wasn’t allowed back in hospital to see Sofia or me at all. The

hardest part for my husband, when I asked him, was knowing that there was nothing he could do to help. He couldn’t hold her to give me a break. He couldn’t give me a hug when I needed one. Thank goodness we had video calling and Facebook messenger as that was our lifeline to stay connected. He watched on his phone as I changed Sofia’s nappy, he would stay on the line while she was screaming the ward down. It was better than nothing, but it was heartbreaking for him missing out on those first 5 days with her. All the midwives, nurses and staff at the hospital were amazing during this time when all of us mums were in hospital by ourselves with no support person. They went above and beyond, getting cups of tea or walking my screaming child around the ward so I could have 15 minutes rest. When we eventually got home after 5 days in hospital, it was very strange because we had no visitors. The whole country was in lockdown. None of our family came to the hospital, because it wasn’t allowed. The first time Sofia met her grandparents in person, she was 8 weeks old and it was through a window in our lounge as they weren’t in our “bubble” and so, couldn’t come in.

It was a very strange time. I had a lot of breastfeeding problems but, due to Covid restrictions, I couldn’t have an in person appointment with a lactation consultant. So online we went and got familiar with Zoom. Things like Plunket visits also couldn’t happen as they weren’t operating at Level 3. My antenatal group was an amazing support during this time. We had connected through

Facebook messenger and had a group chat that we were on most days. We messaged each other checking in to see how people were doing, sharing birth and post birth experiences and it was a great way to keep your spirits up to hear that others were going through the same things you were. To this day our antenatal group has kept in touch and stayed really close. I think going through the shared experience of giving birth during lockdown and living through the Covid-19 pandemic with a newborn brought us closer together as a group and gave us a support network of other people who understood what we were going through. We got together and had a Christmas party for all our babies, we celebrated with a combined 1st Birthday Party, Covid themed of course, and to this day we’re still in touch in our group chat almost every day. Bring on 2021, I was pregnant with baby number two and New Zealand had no cases of Covid 19 at all. By this stage we have got back to a mostly “normal” life and have no “levels” or restrictions. However by February 2021 we have new cases of Covid-19 in the community and we find ourselves in another Level 4 lockdown on the 17th August. Thankfully my 2nd baby was only 3 days overdue and we managed to enjoy a few days before another country wide level 4 lockdown. Hunter Bennet Diprose arrived on the 12th of August and was big (just over 9 pounds) and healthy. This time round we knew more of what to expect. We were lucky, my family and Sam’s family had been able to come up to the hospital and hold their grandchild. Again, we had no visitors. It was the strangest thing to do again, have no one able to come and see you or meet the new baby, but it was also a blessing as we got to spend some nice quality family time together. For the second time I had a couple of problems with breastfeeding initially and due to lockdown again couldn’t see a lactation consultant in person. However I had a really kind lady through Community Birth Services work through on the phone with me and that did help somewhat. What I’ve learnt is that whatever life throws at you, you can choose to look at it in a positive light or a negative light and there’s always ups and downs. I have two beautiful, healthy children, the two lockdown experiences just made my husband and I stronger together as a team and I have made such good friendships through this journey of parenthood so far.