Covid Baby Boom

[HedgehogPJs]

Just read an article on here suggesting there will be a Covid ‘baby boom’.
AIBU to expect the opposite?
You can’t get the vaccine while you’re pregnant or breastfeeding and they don’t recommend getting pregnant within 2 months of getting the second dose... so I would expect a drop in birth rates if anything?
What do you all think?

I am too old to wait for covid to be over. Women have had babies through history and there have been many horrible times. My DH travels for work a lot do it has been easier for us to have sex at the right time.

maternity booking appointments up to July 2020
No huge change really

There's gonna be a boom as people are already pregnant ... probably during all the lockdowns.

Maybe not from now however people i know who want to TTC are so far down vaccination list it doesn't matter

From what I heard from my midwife there is a boom. There was a surge of booking in appointments last summer.

To quote a colleague - this pandemic is booming births and divorces.

Incidentally, I'm one of them - due in Feb. We were not trying, not preventing and since our first took two years and three miscarriages I didn't think it was likely we'd have a baby anytime soon. I wasn't expecting this one to take literally one unprotected shag - I assumed it would be even harder and longer than last time given that we are (obviously) now older. I was probably also a bit more optimistic about the timescale for all this than I was in May. I can't say I regret it, though.

Ooh that takes us up to babies born about now :) so any longer term effects remain to be seen

We were just starting to plan IVF at a clinic in Spain this time last year, and covid completely derailed that - at first because it was impossible to get there and then because as well as us being reluctant to fly, we just started rethinking whether we wanted to bring another child into a world that seems increasingly broken.

Welsh lady there wasn't! Not nationally anyway. And no particular rise in any region.

We had loads of threads on this at the start of the March lockdown.

I don't buy it. I can't think of anything less conducive to having lots of sex than being locked down with your spouse or SO for months on end without any outside contact.

I know a few couples who started trying before we knew about COVID-19 and kept trying during the first lockdown, with success.
They have either recently given birth (and really really didn’t enjoy the birthing experience and felt the lack of face to face MW appointments) or are due Spring ‘21 and currently feel very anxious about it all.

I have my opinion on it but can say very little regarding making ‘good choices’ as I didn’t have a job when I got pregnant with my first child and am just thankful I’m not having to go for weekly blood draws, MW appointments and consultant appointments, plus extra ultrasounds which I’ve had to have with each pregnancy.

I'm pregnant and got pregnant at the beginning of the pandemic on purpose. I'm 37, have health conditions that make me higher risk of pregnancy complications the longer I leave it and we wanted a second so we decided to go for it anyway. I'm sure many people will delay if time is on their side. It wasn't on mine

I know a lot of women who ended up pregnant over lockdowns. Most of them were not planned babies as such. A few figured they might as well do it now, while they're off work. Some couldn't get their contraception sorted. Others Just had nothing else to do. I for one, am loving the distraction of all these babies to look forward to. Who cares why they were concieved?

@Mynotsoperfectlittlefamily

Contraceptive services in my area were one of the first to be stopped in the first wave. Massive increase in pregnancies, including myself. I had a coil appointment booked but it got cancelled. However there hasn't been much of an effect on the local maternity services, aside from partners not really being involved.

Good point. A colleague of mine needed the injection contraception and the GP refused and offer her the pill she refused as she has 3 kids currently.

The GP gave her what she needed and one of our own Doctors on the ward gave her the injection.

[quote snowy0wl]@Michaelbaubles - not all of us have the advantage of youth on our sides. For some people this next year or two may be the last chance to have a baby.[/quote]
I agree @snowy0wl - Not everyone has the time to wait.
Nobody knows how long this pandemic will go on for. Many people thought we would be back to ‘normal’ by Christmas. How long should people put big decisions like this on hold for?

@Otocinclus - Congratulations I wouldn’t worry about being thinking that - judging others for having children is something I’ve only come across on mumsnet, I don’t know who thinks like that in real life.

Before Covid even, there were some very heated posts from those who felt having more than one child (or any at all, I think!) was terribly irresponsible due to overpopulation/climate change. Now it has moved over to women having to wait or being branded selfish or irresponsible 🤷🏼‍♀️ Again though, only a small amount on here, and probably the same ones who were frothing about spotting people in the “non essential” aisle at the supermarket...

Most of the COVID babies are already over half way cooked!!

While I'm a bit worried about giving birth in these circumstances, and not expecting it to be great, I would note that actually I've had much, much better antenatal care in this pregnancy than I got with DS in 2018 - I've moved since then and can't say enough good things about my new local midwifery team and how hard they've worked through this. I do wonder how they're coping where I previously lived as the maternity service seems to have been on the brink of total collapse for years.

Disagree - I’m 7 months pregnant now! And it’s been the bloody best time to be pregnant in my opinion - no commuting, working at home, missing nothing(nights out/events etc) loads of time to relax, getting plenty of walks in/zoom exercise classes so I’m staying fit, have time to cook lots of healthy food etc

Haven’t felt that my care has been lax at all - had all my scans on time, am seeing the midwife every 2 weeks, even got a growth scan at 28weeks as the midwife had some concerns - had the scan the next day!

I won’t be getting the vaccine anyway for a long time - I’m 32 with ok health issues, I’m way down the list! 😂

We’ve got a three year old and we were going to try for another but then COVID kicked off so we have decided to wait. Purely because we can (I’m late twenties) however I can see lots of reasons other people wouldn’t/couldn’t afford to wait. I think the nature of more people being forced to spend a lot more time at home probably will mean more babies being conceived accidentally perhaps.

@thepeopleversuswork

We had loads of threads on this at the start of the March lockdown.

I don't buy it. I can't think of anything less conducive to having lots of sex than being locked down with your spouse or SO for months on end without any outside contact.

I don't think DH and I had as much sex during lockdown as we did during our teen years! There was nothing else to do in the evenings except each other I'm sure we're not the only ones.

The advice has changed re: breastfeeding and pregnant women and the vaccine.

www.rcog.org.uk/en/news/updated-advice-on-covid-19-vaccination-in-pregnancy-and-women-who-are-breastfeeding/

It’s nice to know that some people are really judgemental about this 😢

We started trying in October 2019 and conceived in early Feb 2020. We actually had a chat in mid March and decided to stop trying for a while until we saw what was going to happen with COVID. Of course, unbeknown to us at the time, we had already, happily, conceived. In fairness, we probably would have started trying again in the summer as time isn’t on our side and the maternity service in my area have been fine. I have had comments from a couple of people though about how irresponsible it was to have a baby during a pandemic...even though he was conceived before!!!!

Hubby and I decided to start trying over the summer and I fell pregnant right away. We have both worked throughout and we'd be classed as key workers (in limited risk/non health care industries).

I did consider delaying it, I worried about safety, antenatal care availability, will the school class be too big etc etc
But with no end in sight for COVID, there's a point where life must go on. The time was right for us plus I figured that if I need to lockdown or shield then I might as well merge this with maternity leave.

It's not a happy choice for expectant mothers- I haven't got the support I would have had (both from family and classes), I have no idea how DH will be involved in labour.

Maybe some think this is Irresponsible, but it was not done without thought. Haters gonna hate, I guess.

I’m pregnant because it suited me better to be pregnant during the pandemic. I’ve not had a problem with my care and whilst I appreciate my birth is unlikely to be ideal I don’t regret our choice

I'm pregnant and conceived in Late June, due beginning of April. It was planned. However our 18 month old took two years and 3 rounds of clomid to conceive. This time took us 4 months.