Giving birth during a pandemic is scary enough, but also being pregnant can bring its own set of challenges.
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Lithgow resident Angel Burns, who is set to give birth to a baby girl in August, said when she first heard about COVID-19 she became overwhelmed with anxiety.
"It was just the uncertainty of how things were going to be on a day to day basis," she said.
Angel said that she has had to change her routine to fit in with this 'new normal'.
"The new normal meant our families routine had to change to follow social distancing and the essential travel only restrictions," she said.
Having a three-year-old son at home 24 hours a day has been one of the more challenging aspects of quarantine, according to Angel.
"Finding ways and techniques to entertain and educate him has proven challenging, especially when it had come to my antenatal appointments or even just grocery shopping and not being able to take him with me," she said.
"His confusion of why was more difficult, as well as not being able to visit or have family visit or just going for a walk have also been difficult factors."
Not having family visit during the restrictions has been especially hard.
"It has been stressful especially for my son as having family visit was a daily thing before COVID-19," she said.
This will be Angel's second birth and is much different from her first pregnancy.
"So much is different, from appointments to preparing for our little girls arrival, we've found a lot of nursery shopping we've done online rather than in store, just to take that extra precaution of ensuring we don't fall sick or unwell, which has become somewhat exhausting," she said.
With groups such as Lithgow's breastfeeding association taking their classes online, Angel said she thought this was a good idea.
"I heard that recently, and I think for first time mum's to be and all mothers in general it's a great idea with a lot of potential that hopefully proves successful," she said.
Angel said she wasn't as nervous now that the restrictions were beginning to ease.
"However the nerves of the 'what if' questions are still there," she said.
This story is part of an on-going series where we look at how different Mothers have been dealing with the coronavirus pandemic while pregnant or with a newborn baby.
