Lockdown Lookback: How has it been having a new baby in lockdown?

Video report and words by Tom Barton

All this week we've been catching up with some of the people we met during the first lockdown, to see how they're coping with the latest restrictions.

One of the more memorable interviews from the spring was with Lindsay and Simon - whose son Wesley was born in April.

When we first met them...Wesley's grandparents had only ever seen him through the window. So how are they getting on now? Tom Barton's been finding out.

At seven months old .. there's nothing more Wesley likes than a trip to the park. He's never known a world without Covid - and his first few months have been full of the ups and downs of coronavirus restrictions...nothing like his parents Lindsay and Simon ever expected.For them, hearing that we were entering a new period of lockdown at the start of this month was difficult.

"I think the main concern was for Lindsay, and Wesley, maybe not being able to see family and friends as often as you'd like. Obviously the first lockdown it was difficult as well."

"I was devastated, because I've just got used to a new form of normality. Wes actually seeing more things, going to different classes, and just feeling more like a normal mum, I suppose."When I first met Wesley and his parents at home in Whitley Bay back in May...he hadn't met his grandparents. They'd only been able to see him though the window. 

They were eventually introduced as rules eased in June. And although going back into lockdown in November was hard, Lindsay has been able to do more with him than during the first lockdown in the spring.

"Compared to the first lockdown when it was just me, Si and Wesley and no one would see him, except for through my window, it does feel totally different. We've still got some classes going, so I'm still going to a postnatal support group with Wesley. And then the fact we're still allowed to walk with one person from another household, so it means that can have a walk with a fellow mum, or I'll meet my mum for a walk every day. So I think there's definitely improvements compared to the previous lockdown."

Like so many of us, Lindsay and Simon are hoping the vaccines can be rolled or as soon as possible - so that Wesley's second year can be a bit more normal than his first.