'Second birth helped me move on from my Covid trauma'

Both of Stacie Buchan's children were born via C-section but their birth stories couldn't be more different.

The mother-of-two from Peterhead gave birth to her daughter Ivy in May 2020, right in the midst of the Covid lockdown and was isolated for many of the weeks leading up to and after giving birth.

Her son Luca was born in 2023 in much more normal circumstances.

Five years on from the beginning of lockdown, Stacie told BBC Scotland News her second baby helped her get over the trauma of giving birth during a pandemic.

Hospital maternity wards were placed under strict regulations in March 2020. Expectant mothers had to wear face masks and no visitors were allowed.

It was not known how the virus could affect pregnant women.

Stacie describes the arrivals of Ivy and Luca as "day and night."

She said: "They were similar in the sense that they were both sections, they were both on the larger side but that's pretty much the only similarities between them."

Stacie's partner Fraser wasn't allowed to be in the hospital ward for her first labour. That meant she had to make decisions and face procedures such as being induced alone - at a time when she felt "very vulnerable".

Fraser was able to be with her in the operating theatre and then in the recovery room for an hour or two, before being told he had to leave.

Stacie spent her first five days of motherhood alone, apart from the midwives working in the hospital.

"I still to this day think that whole experience of having Ivy in lockdown contributed somewhat to my postpartum depression," she said.

"I can't say for definite but I do think it had a lasting impact on me emotionally," she said.

It wasn't until she became pregnant again in 2023, that Stacie realised the long-term influence the first experience had on her.

"There was a fear that stemmed from Ivy's pregnancy that I thought was put to bed, but it wasn't until I was pregnant again with Luca that I realised it hadn't."

Stacie said even though she knew the pandemic was over, she spent most of her second pregnancy worried about having to give birth alone.

She ended up having to be signed off from work early.

But when the time came to give birth it was a completely different experience.

This time, Fraser was allowed to stay in the ward for the duration and when they got home the family were able to welcome visitors to meet baby Luca.

She added: "It was plain sailing on the most part with Ivy, and then a horrendous birth.

"Then a pretty horrible and scary emotional pregnancy with Luca, but the day he was born was the most perfect day.

"They speak about the 'day two blues', and it was really bad with Ivy. I was just in hospital crying by myself and with Luca I was waiting for it, but it never came. I was on cloud nine for several weeks later."

She said finally having a positive birth experience "saved her" and with no plans to have a third child she is glad she was finally able to put her trauma behind her.

"If I didn't end with that, I would have been broken I think. It's almost like it just erased and reset everything.

"And I think a big part of that is that I had that second birth experience, the way it should be."