By Akasha

Self portrait task

I became a mum at 12:43 on a rainy Thursday in October 2020, and I’ve never felt luckier. 

I found out I was pregnant a month before the first lockdown and was lucky that my manager suggested I start shielding, since the impact of COVID on early pregnancy was unknown. 

I was so lucky that I knew my midwife and she could do a home booking, I remember laughing with her about how surreal it was being on the other side of an appointment, being the one to answer all the questions instead of asking and explaining. 

I was lucky my partner was able to come to an early pregnancy scan a day before the ‘patient only’ rule came into force. Even though our baby was just a tiny bean, we were able to experience that together, as parents should. 

I was lucky that I had the support of my colleagues at appointments when my partner couldn’t attend. I was lucky the weather was so lovely, I spent most of those months gardening or reading in the sunshine. 

I was lucky to have an incredibly empowering water birth, that my baby was completely healthy, and I was home that night.

I’ve been so lucky to be surrounded by family during the second and third lockdowns, to have my mum in my bubble and the mountains on my doorstep.

Like most people becoming parents during COVID, my arrival into motherhood hasn’t been particularly ‘normal’.  I attended most appointments alone, there were months of isolation, no baby shower or showing off my bump, very few people have met my baby and grandparents watch him grow over FaceTime.  But despite knowing how hard life has been for so many with everything going on in the world, I’ve been so lucky.