The baby isn’t due for another week, but I can’t wait to get him out.’ The care here in the birth centre at Barnet Hospital, part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, is extraordinary. Emilia’s midwife perches at the side of the bath, whispering encouragement in their Polish mother tongue. Aside from her obligatorymask, all rules of social distancing have to be forgotten as they breathe through contractions together, faces just inches apart. I bump into one frazzled new mum, who has been on the antenatal ward for 10 days without a single visitor, as her baby is on antibiotics. I meet 17-year-old trainee hairdresser Abbey, also having her first baby, who spent the previous night crying and FaceTiming her mother Lee, who heroically parked her car and slept outside thehospital, just so she could be close by. I totally understand Covid has changed all the rules, but I just felt so helpless.’ There was a moment, probably around Easter weekend, when the impact of the virus really hit Barnet Hospital. Rules were changing on a daily basis.’ Another impact of coronavirus that swiftly became clear is that pregnant women are now staying away from hospital for as long as possible. ‘It has been tough,’ says Nicola Brown, coordinator of the delivery suite, as she rushes along the ward tying on a mask. Like many first-time mums, Katie Pink, a 32-year-old banker from West Hampstead, read up on childbirth and planned a natural, drug-free delivery. Despite coronavirus and having to have an unplanned C-section, I’d describe this as nothing less than an entirely positive birth experience.’ Read more stories about the realities of lockdown...
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