What it's like becoming a mum in a global pandemic 

What is it like having a baby in lockdown, knowing that when it ends, not only will people meet your baby, they’ll also see you for the first time as a mum? Jennifer Stevens, who had her second baby in 2020, talks to first-time mothers

Jennifer Stevens with her daughter, Molly, who had six weeks of normal life before lockdown hit last March.

Molly, my second daughter, was born in early February 2020. It was that blissful part of the year where we were aware of a virus on the other side of the world, but it had not yet changed all our lives. There was extra hand sanitiser in the hospital, and midwives and consultants occasionally mentioned it in passing, but there was no major concern.

My mother-in-law was in my house when we got back from hospital. It was the week of the general election and my husband, who works in television news, was busy. It was the busiest he’d be all year, we thought, so his mum and then my mum would be on hand for the first week to help. I had a section and a 20-month-old, so an extra pair of hands was definitely needed. How we laugh now at our naivety about how busy his working year would be.