How have you been affected professionally?
At the minute I'm working in the midwife-led unit at Lagan Valley Hospital. We support women having babies in the community, and still run antenatal and postnatal clinics. We were anxious about getting PPE at the beginning but our trust was really good at providing it. It gets hot wearing the visor and mask but we say to the women: "We may look scary but we're still smiling." The biggest blow was the suspension of our birth service under lockdown. For the past two months, I haven't attended any actual births and miss having our mums in as I enjoy promoting the normality of birth. With the added pressure on ambulances, we felt it might be difficult to ensure women got to an obstetric unit if something went wrong. The good news is we are reopening our service on June 15. My job is a privilege and particularly heartwarming with first-time parents seeing them become dads and mums. Now a lot has changed and while all our antenatal clinics offer face to face appointments, the time has been reduced and women are getting one fewer scan. But there is some online education and a Whatsapp group.
And what about personally?
It was hard going to work at the start as I was quite worried about maybe bringing the coronavirus back to my family. We're following advice but you don't know that everybody else is. My daughter Isobelle is in P2 and was offered schooling from 9am to 2pm but it wasn't suitable for us. So we've been home schooling, or rather my husband Andrew has. It has been quite stressful. But Isobelle and I have been enjoying baking together, producing lots of scones and banana and walnut cake. I do miss seeing my family in Ballyclare, though.
Are there are positives in this?
I would say my husband's and my relationship is better. Don't get me wrong, getting out to work is my reprieve, but we spend more time together now. I quite enjoy being in our bubble, although I know some parents are missing the support of grandparents. Isobelle wouldn't normally spend so much time with her father, and that's nice. New mothers have told me they are liking spending time at home with just their babies and partners. Our breastfeeding rate has gone up, even in some women who haven't been successful before. I think that's because the new mothers are maybe more relaxed, without the pressure on.
What's getting you through this?
Keeping positive. I try to look on the bright side and hopefully there is an end in sight. Home cooking is relaxing and we're trying out one of the delivery recipe outfits. Support for the NHS has been great, including the work done by the volunteer group NI Scrubs who have donated loads of scrubs to avoid cross-contamination. To be honest, as I'm still going to work, I feel my life has not changed as much as some people's – and that bit of normality is important.
