MNHQ here - are you having a 'lockdown' baby?

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

We've been analysing some data here at MNHQ and going on what we can see, quite a few MNers (more than in comparable time periods in previous years) seem to have been talking about conception, pregnancy and BFPs in the late spring and early summer this year.

Which makes us think... is there a pandemic baby boom on the way? Are the shops about to sell out of Bugaboos? Will school admissions in 2025 be an absolutely massive scrum?

If this is you we'd love to hear about how you got your BFP (I mean you don't literally need to tell us how you got pregnant, we're mostly confident about that bit...) and what it was about lockdown or your changing personal circumstances that made you decide that this was the time to go for it.

Did you have more time at home without a commute? Did lockdown prompt you to reassess and rethink in some way? Did you have life changes (eg less paid work or the loss of a job) that prompted you to crack on with trying for a baby? If conception hadn't been an easy journey for you, do you think the quieter (if weirder) circumstances of lockdown helped?

We'd love to know what your experiences have been if you'd be happy to share them with us.

Thanks
MNHQ

We've been analysing some data here at MNHQ and going on what we can see, quite a few MNers (more than in comparable time periods in previous years) seem to have been talking about conception, pregnancy and BFPs in the late spring and early summer this year.

Could it simply be that those WFH/furloughed have had more time to spend on MN?

@lollypop345

I honestly hate the term 'lockdown baby' so much. So many people have mentioned it with my pregnancy 'you were busy during the lockdown!!!' 'Oh not another lockdown, we all know what happened with you in the last one!' etc comments like this. As if all babies conceived in lockdown were an accident as we had nothing better to do with our days at home...

This baby was planned and wanted for a long time and just so happened to be conceived whilst in lockdown. Big deal. 😴😴

I am completely with you on that! Drives me absolutely bonkers!!

We had no plans to ttc. Lockdown hit, I had a breakdown from working and caring for ds1 who was 18 months. I got signed off work and dh was furloughed meaning we spent about a month just as a family. We loved that time together, reevaluated our lives, dh got a new, less stressful job. I started medication for my mental health and we saw what's important to us, which is family life.
Dd is due in feb! I'm so happy we had that time to reflect and realise what we wanted out of life, which is our wonderful family.

We had been TTC for two years, had a miscarriage in 2018 and an ectopic in 2019 which was managed with methotrexate which meant we had to wait 6 months before resuming TTC in Jan 2020. I was very stressed about TTC (we both were), we did have a discussion about whether to wait until COVID was over and decided against it, and I had a lot of work stress in the first half of lockdown. As soon as that eased up a bit we conceived, I’m due in March. I don’t know if lockdown had any particular effect, and have been slightly irritated by comments from friends/colleagues who don’t know the full back story as if we just fell pregnant in lockdown for want of anything better to do. But interested to know if there are more/less babies this year.

@SomethingOnce

We've been analysing some data here at MNHQ and going on what we can see, quite a few MNers (more than in comparable time periods in previous years) seem to have been talking about conception, pregnancy and BFPs in the late spring and early summer this year.

Could it simply be that those WFH/furloughed have had more time to spend on MN?

Or with fewer face to face medical appointments, people are seeking reassurance elsewhere? Or somewhere to talk to people about pregnancy when you can't see friends and family face to face/you don't want to add to your friends stressful real life situation/you don't want to talk babies with someone who has just lost a close family member to covid/you don't want the "there's a pandemic on which is way more important than your inability to go look at prams in a shop!" Lecture.

Honestly there are loads of threads specifically relating to covid worries (eg "are my midwives being rubbish or is this standard in covid?", "Will my partner be able to come to scans?") Two almost daily topics.

Having a much longed for pregnancy, I hate the term lockdown baby too. Some people might find it fun or flippant but after spending years trying to conceive, there was nothing flippant or on a whim about my pregnancy.

We’d been planning a second from late 2019, and briefly stopped TTC around March-May this year in the first lockdown, but started again over the summer. I’m 38, I can’t really wait until Covid’s gone to have a second. I felt acutely aware of DD’s loneliness as an only child even before covid; I always wanted two children so I’m just hoping for the best.

I had three ambitions this year:

1. Get a promotion
2. Move house
3. Get pregnant with number 2

COVID put the brakes on 1 and 2. I wasn't 100% sure about the baby as I really wanted to get a house that would fit our family (currently in 2 bed flat in London with a 2yo) and to get to a certain point on my career. But with neither of these things possible it just became clear that I could / should make the baby a priority. I am in my late 30s and didn't want to leave it too late.I also felt like I needed something positive to come out of this year. Life will go on post COVID.

We started trying in April - but not very hard to be honest. I got my BFP in August having skipped a couple cycles. It happened rather faster than I'd anticipated but I'm pleased obviously.

Lockdown has been a godsend really. I'm lucky enough to be able to work at home. This was extremely fortunate this time as I had extremely bad nausea for the first 16 weeks. It was continuous and unrelenting. I would not have been able to work normally.we also came out as high risk for downs and needed additional screening which was very stressful. I have been very lucky though as the nhs changed to rules regarding scans / partners just before my 12 week check so my husband has been allowed to come.

The other difference with this pregnancy was that I was very reluctant to tell people at first. Last time we told our families immediately. However, my parents are very anxious about COVID and I was very concerned about their reaction, I also didn't want to worry them until I knew the pregnancy was relatively safe. That was very hard, especially when I was feeling very ill. I really missed the support and in hindsight wish I'd just told them as it took a big toll on my mental health.

I'm now 20 weeks and it has been quite rough ride but I'm feeling much much better. Next scan is tomorrow and I'm hoping all is well but I'm very anxious after the downs scare last time.

We had thought about having a third baby and decided not to before the lockdown - but our worlds are so much smaller now and we have small families and after this year family is everything so we decided to see what happened....and what happened is that I'm now 4 weeks pregnant! Planned and wanted.

Having been TTC with our second for more than two years, two miscarriages in 2019 (due to my age), followed by fertility investigations, we were about to commence IVF at the start of the first lockdown, which was put on hold. A month later, I discovered I had fallen pregnant naturally just as we went went into lockdown. DS was born last month in the second lockdown. 😊
I had considered halting the trying as we didn't know the potential effects covid have on the unborn baby.
I work in maternity, our pregnancy bookings have doubled for spring next year.

We have been TTC for 3 years ('unexplained infertility'), and for us lockdown delayed the start of our first IVF cycle, we then started IVF in July, but had to postpone the last stage as I got OHSS (terrifying)... then found out we had managed to get pregnant naturally during my recovery! A few days before the 12 week scan I had a few cramps, then a bit of bleeding & emergency scan showed silent miscarriage at 8 weeks ish. Heartbroken ... I then delivered the miscarriage on our bathroom floor, on my 39th birthday, after 3 hours of contractions and insanely heavy bleeding. We are now trying to recover, and keeping our fingers crossed for a successful pregnancy... so lockdown has been pretty eventful/traumatic, and it's been hard to not be able to see family properly during a really difficult time.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/articles/provisionalbirthsinenglandandwales/latest

Too early to say for conceptions occurring during lockdown.

But births for the first three-quarters of 2020 are already 3.4% lower than they were during the same period of 2019 for England and Wales.

Probably some natural decline, but maybe also a small increase in abortions and miscarriages.

Either way, it's looking unlikely that there's going to be a baby boom. More likely there will be a decrease in births.

We conceived in Jan, lost that baby to a MMC in the first week of lockdown. Took six weeks, three treatments and two days in hospital before the physical side of all of that was over. Did it all alone, including finding out at the scan, due to restrictions on partners, so when it was all over and we were able to try again we just went for it. We figured we’d been through all of that during full lockdown so we could go through anything and couldn’t bear to wait not knowing how much longer this would go on for, how long it could take to get pregnant again or if our next pregnancy would even be successful. Now coming up to 28 weeks pregnant and due in March. My hospital has slowly lifted restrictions (DH couldn’t be at the 12 week scan but could at the 20 week) and now partners can be there for pretty much everything, so I’m glad we didn’t wait. Hoping the world will be a bit more back to normal come March as the only thing worrying me now is how to navigate our parents meeting baby!

We wanted to start trying last year but while I was giving my body a break from the pill, I found a new job.
(old one was bad for my mental health so best for us)

I went back on the pill for 6 months, had a bit of time contraceptive free before TTC. The pandemic then hit, so we waited a few extra months (using condoms: not ideal).

Blessed (and a little surprised) to fall pregnant straight away over the summer, and here we are!

Brief version : we were planning on TTC anyway, the pandemic didn't have much influence.

We've both worked throughout so I see this more like a key worker baby than a lockdown baby. I did consider that there'd be a baby boom (so stretched maternity services, larger school groups) but avoiding that would have added another 6 months wait. Not knowing when this would end we decided to just get on with it. DC1 coming this spring

@RowanMumsnet I completely agree with @Kokeshi123 Where I work we are very down on pregnancy numbers compared to previous years. No boom here, in fact we’ve had to close rooms down as not enough patients to fill a scan list. I’m sure it will change again next year for sure.. but for now we’re convinced that either everyone’s fell out with their partners or contraception production rate has rocketed.