Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

Lockdown used to be the norm for new mothers

(iStock)

I laughed when my Spanish midwife mentioned in passing that in Latin American countries they have a custom for new mothers known as la cuarentena — the quarantine. This was back in late February, a few weeks before my daughter Lily was born. I remember thinking it seemed not only ludicrous but archaic for a woman to spend a 40-day period stuck at home after giving birth. Modern mothers got on with life. I planned to do just that.

I had invested in all the necessary equipment. The car seat was installed. I had bought the state-of-the-art breast pump which connects to my phone. My husband and I had chosen the pram because the slick adverts boasted that it could fit into the overhead locker of an aeroplane. Friends with children assured us they had managed to get out and about pretty quickly; a newborn wasn’t going to stop us doing the same.

The British government had other ideas. A week after Lily arrived, Boris Johnson appeared on our television telling us not to leave the house unless it was completely necessary. My dreams of being a free-roaming super-mother were dashed. The whole country was in la cuarentena. It felt strangely comforting to know that everyone else was now at home.

‘We’re reaching the lockdown halfway point.’

I’d like to be able to say that I stand by my initial dismissal of la cuarentena. But the truth is, 52 days — and counting — after giving birth, lockdown has felt like a far better start to motherhood than what I had originally planned. It has given me more time to learn how to care for a child. My diary has nothing in it. The weddings we had planned to go to have all been cancelled. I have spent most of the past eight weeks sitting with my daughter, feeding her, comforting her when she cries and lulling her back to sleep.

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