Welcoming a child into the world during a pandemic delivered some unexpected positives for Berwick mum of six Chantal Zammit.
The main positive has been that her newborn Paddy and five older children have spent plenty of time together thanks to remote learning.
“The kids absolutely adore Paddy and it’s been nice for them to have that bit of extra time with him,” Chantal said.
“I think there were a few days before going into lockdown when I was thinking that all the kids are going back to school and that I’m going to be lonely.
“But we went into lockdown, which meant home schooling and I thought I won’t be alone for a while!”
Paddy was a bit of an unexpected pandemic baby.
Chantal and her partner Adam had tried for their first baby together for 10 months without success.
Although Chantal had already birthed five children, she didn’t know if she would be able to conceive at age 45.
“I didn’t know what my odds would be as they call it a geriatric pregnancy at this stage,” she said.
“We tried for about 10 months without intervention.
“We had gone through the tests and it looked like I was fine, everything seemed like I could.
“We had a break from trying. Then I got pregnant just as I started a new job which is what happens when you’re not planning!”
Chantal said there were times during her pregnancy that she felt a bit lonely due to Covid restrictions.
“We were in and out of isolation – it would have been nice to see family and friends more,” she said.
Fortunately Adam, 35, was able to attend all of the ultrasounds as restrictions allowed for Chantal to have one person accompany her to the appointments.
Paddy Logan Mitchell was born at Berwick’s St John of God Hospital on 28 July, a time when there were restrictions around visitors to hospitals. The silver lining was that Chantal and Adam got to spend plenty of time with their newborn son during their five-day hospital stay.
“I felt bad for my kids but it was nice to have that four nights of just my partner, the baby and I without having to worry about when visitors were coming,” Chantal said.
Twins Jimi and Liam, now 17, Adam, 14, Anneke, 11 and Beau, 9 saw their little half-brother for the first time via the internet.
“The kids couldn’t come to the hospital when he (Paddy) was born. We had to Facetime them which was very different,” she said.
But it was quite the welcome home party, with the kids lining up to cuddle Paddy as soon as he entered the front door.
However, Paddy met very few people outside his immediate family in the months following his arrival. Chantal said the ban on home visitors throughout lockdown had been tough.
“My partner’s friends are all dying to meet Paddy because they realise how much he wanted to have a baby of his own.
“We can’t wait for Paddy to meet people and for them to see this baby that was so wanted.”
