Help, I'm having a baby during a pandemic.

I got pregnant in mid-February 2020. Never expected that the second time would be right on target. I can still see myself sitting on the toilet with the pregnancy test in my hands. What was going through my mind? Disbelief, nerves, I put my hands in front of my face, but how happy I felt, especially very happy. My long cherished dream came true, I am becoming a mother!

And then… mid-March, we all know what happened. The Netherlands had to go into lockdown, the Coronavirus spread quickly through the country. This made the pregnancy different from what I had imagined. The first ultrasounds, for example, I had to go here alone. While waiting in the car, my friend was fortunately able to watch the first images of our first child through video calling. But this is not the same and the connection was not always good. Because we were not allowed to receive any visitors, we mainly announced the big news to family and friends via Whatsapp messages or calls. We only told our parents personally. Of course we would have liked to do this differently.

Still, I have to admit that this was the most annoying thing about the measures during pregnancy for me. For example, I had to throw up a lot during the first 19 weeks of pregnancy. Working from home was therefore a godsend for me. I am a French teacher at a secondary school and I had not seen myself in front of the class these weeks. But from home, behind a laptop where I could turn off the webcam if necessary to quickly run to the toilet, was very nice for me. I didn't have to make excuses about what was going on with me, no one noticed anything.

The peace that the lockdown brought was very pleasant for me. There are fewer social obligations and on the street you will not be touched by a wild stranger, unsolicited, because they want to touch your beautiful, pregnant belly (and yes, I understand from friends that this really happens). All in all, I therefore believe that being pregnant during a pandemic is not so bad.

At the end of October I was induced and our daughter Nore was born. We were only allowed one person to visit in the hospital. That is why we have chosen not to let anyone come to visit, for us it was an impossible choice about who should or should not come. Also during the maternity week, no visitors were allowed because the maternity assistant was already there. Since we didn't want to let the brand new grandparents wait a week until they could meet their first grandchild, we did let them visit in the evenings. Of course we adhered to the RIVM guideline, which was then a maximum of three people per day.

To date, we have not yet received all the maternity visits, this period of pandemic gives extra rest in the maternity period, but the maternity period also lasts much longer. In addition, we have chosen not to let anyone cuddle with Nore. Personally I love it the way it is now and I wouldn't want it any other way with a second child. Nore is an easy girl who slept through the night after only five weeks (wonderful for mom and dad!). I myself am convinced that the measures surrounding Corona contribute to this, in addition to the child's character, of course. I think the positives outweigh the negatives in this regard. For example, also look at the RS infections in babies that seem to have almost disappeared due to all the Corona problems!