In expecting to give birth at the peak of the Covid 19 pandemic here in London, I wrote letters to our unborn son…
“Dear Lucas
In three weeks or less, you are due to join us. What a chaotic world you are being born into….On Monday, your dad and I saw you in what will be our last scan before finally meeting you in person. How peaceful you look inside my belly, oblivious to the craziness going on outside. We will do our best to shield you from the worst of these times. Your dad had flown here from Beijing — where he had been in a lockdown that affected all of China since late January — and painstakingly quarantined himself in the Surrey countryside before rejoining us a few days ago. But we are now entering another lockdown — in London — and the virus seems to be spreading more virulently here than in China.Our antenatal classes where we are learning how to care for you are now conducted via Zoom. We are learning how to breastfeed you via a video link. The borough we live in has the second-highest number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in all of the UK and the hospital where you are due to be born might be quite overwhelmed. We’re told more parents are now doing home births… That was ruled out for us at first because I am a “geriatric”, first-time expectant mother but we may have to consider it now. We hope you are doing well inside, and fingers and toes crossed all will be fine for your arrival.18 March 08:48pm, London “
Also run on National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/photography/2020/04/intimate-photos-show-families-adapting-world-changed-coronavirus
And on Magnum Photo’s Diary of A Pandemic: https://www.magnumphotos.com/newsroom/diary-of-a-pandemic/
