Love, loss and survival: Becoming a parent during the pandemic

The series features portraits of new and future parents in London, accompanied by their testimonies of love, loss and survival in the face of adversity.

The project began after Kent first became a parent in September 2020, when he shared an image of his wife with their newborn daughter and midwife. He quickly received messages from around the world from people eager to tell their stories.

He took the opportunity to document the impact of pandemic restrictions on this life-changing experience for millions of people. Her project reveals the challenges of delivering a baby during the pandemic.

Marie and Marcie – London, 2021

Marie contracted the Covid at 34 weeks pregnant and fell seriously ill. Her parents had caught the virus a week earlier, with her mother dying of complications from Covid just as her own illness worsened. Dressed in full PPE, she went to the hospital to say goodbye to him. It was not until three weeks later that Marie recovered and entered an eight-day labor, still in mourning for her mother. Seven days of early labor was followed by a series of procedures, induction and finally an emergency cesarean section due to the baby’s position. She said to me: “It was a lot. People say you need a village, but there was no village – there was no physical support. I learned a lot about resilience. If you can go through hell and come out the other side, there is hope that you can handle it all.

Alanya and Casper – London, 2021

Alanya found out she was pregnant and lost her partner just before her 20 week scan in 2019. She had her baby the day the first lockdown was announced. As the country came to a halt and her mental health deteriorated, she spent months in a mother-baby unit before moving into a tower block in Whitechapel with her son Casper Fox (named after her late father).

Alanya said: “When I lost my partner I was locked up all day, every day and when I was finally ready to go out into the world again, the restrictions were announced and we could not go to zero. part – it was really hard and I felt trapped. At the same time, I felt like I was letting my son down because we weren’t going out to do things. But Casper has really thrived. He’s charismatic, loving and ridiculously smart – and I’m so proud of him. We’re both equally energetic and we’re always stupid. We make a great duo – always making the most of different situations. “

Sarah and Bee – London, 2021

The portrait of Sarah and Bee was the first photo I took for the series. He summed up the tension of becoming a new parent during the pandemic and really loaded the early stages of the project. Months later, when I took this photo, she told me, “After our daughter was born, there was still so much uncertainty and lack of support. We were just left to that. It’s weird to think about those first few weeks now – it’s all a bit hazy. There were some positives. Social restrictions meant I could lean toward motherhood without the pressure to do all of the normal things you’re supposed to do. But the support was lacking. The actual services were either canceled, delayed or took place over the phone. And like many others during the pandemic, I really struggled. Local moms have become my support network. We met regularly – always outdoors in parks and socially remote. It was important to take care of my mental health and well-being. We formed child care bubbles and did what we needed to stay connected and sane.

Izzy and Isla – London, 2021

Izzy and I sat on a bench surrounded by daffodils as she told me that she had been pregnant three times during the pandemic and had two miscarriages. At the time we spoke, she was 16 weeks pregnant. I was struck by her bravery in wanting to share her story and her determination to raise awareness of the challenges she faced. Izzy said: “The pregnancy after the loss has been endlessly difficult – equal parts wanting to hope and believe, combined with the overwhelming fear that it could all be taken away in the blink of an eye. The fear and anxiety didn’t end at 12 weeks, 20 weeks, or the time before she was born. It wasn’t until I held her in my arms that the fear and anxiety collapsed to be replaced by love and happiness.

Sally and Rosalie – London, 2021

Sally was 35 weeks pregnant when I first met her at her home in east London. Fifteen weeks earlier, on Christmas 2020, she and the rest of her family contracted Covid. She told me how she felt numb with fear of the unknown and described how “like dominoes everyone in my house caught the virus: my husband, my mom and finally my 18 month old son. We just had to wait. Sally told me that her postpartum experience was a blur in which support for new mothers seemed nonexistent. Speaking about her daughter, she said: “I feel like I woke up and she was three months old. I love it so much and I hadn’t even stopped thinking about it. She is incredible.

Assad, Bisma and Azlan – London, 2021

Bisma’s waters broke at 22 weeks the day the World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 outbreak a global pandemic. She was told she would give birth within 48 hours to a baby that had only a 1% chance of survival. She said, “I could still feel the baby kicking and my faith was strong. I refused to take the pill to induce labor and with each passing week my baby’s chances of survival increased. Azlan – from Turkish meaning “lion; brave and courageous man ‘- was born 10 weeks later. Bisma’s husband Assad said: “When the waters of Bisma broke at 20 weeks, our world fell apart. It was our faith that gave us something to hold onto when we felt like there was nothing left. Faith and religion are not tangible things, but they filled the chasm we found ourselves in during these darkest hours. “

Katie and Violet – London, 2021

Katie and her husband decided to try for a baby in 2020 and gave birth to daughter Violet earlier this year. I was getting my cameras ready for a shoot when I saw Katie playing with her baby and captured this image. It was taken as social restrictions eased in the UK and it looked like the darker days of the pandemic were behind us. Katie said: “A lot of people have had time to reflect – on life, the decisions they’ve made and the kind of life they want to live in the future.”

Rebecca – London, 2021

Rebecca found out she was pregnant in September 2020. Designated as high risk due to her medical history, she feared contracting Covid and losing the baby. She said: “It was clear that the winter was going to be terrible. Everyone tells you to try to stay calm during your pregnancy, but there was this feeling of fear. Protecting during the last three months of pregnancy, attending emergency exams alone, looking after our little one, and juggling our careers was all exhausting. I was so worried about the impact this would have on our baby and definitely felt deprived of those precious prenatal moments, but we didn’t need to worry. Our baby is a dream – he is smiling, happy and determined. “

Claire and Charlie – London, 2021

Being pregnant, diabetic, and mixed race meant the pandemic was an anxious time for Claire and her partner. She said: “We were really strict with the restrictions. People didn’t hold our baby until the vaccines were rolled out, and even then there were still a lot of unknowns. There was the pandemic itself but also the question mark about when we would see a return to normalcy. I found it really difficult. People were talking about tackling the ‘new normal’, but we were also negotiating parenthood for the first time and it was hard to tell the difference between the two. We were always aware that there were other parents who were going through more difficult situations, but I felt deprived of the motherhood experience that I had hoped for. After everything we’ve been through I’m a little surprised that Charlie is such a happy and relaxed baby. I learn a lot from him.

Keeley and Freddie – London, 2021

Keeley and her partner first became parents in 2020 after trying to have a baby for seven years. As I took pictures of Keeley and her son Freddie, I was struck by the special bond between them. Keeley said: “This was not how the script was supposed to play out. After seven years of trying to have a baby, nine rounds of IVF treatment, in four different clinics and three different countries, and finally moving on to the egg donation to make our dream of being parents come true, I had to have an idyllic pregnancy and postpartum experience. not in the script, not that none of our experiences could be scripted. It’s a story that took more than its share of twists and turns and suspense, and I felt like “normal”. Yes, it has been amazing and has positively changed my life, but with the beauty of hindsight and the dream of a way out of this pandemic, I can now honestly say that it has been difficult. Just because I have what I’ve always wanted, my little miracle Freddie, that doesn’t stop it from being hard. This wasn’t how my story was supposed to go on, and I’ll be honest, I feel more than a little cheated.

Nichelle, Ruqayyah and Alaiyah – London, 2021

Nichelle works as a midwife in the NHS. In this 2021 photo, she is shown with her two daughters on a pumpkin patch on a farm on the outskirts of London. Just before the first Covid-19 lockdown in the UK in March 2020, Nichelle’s daughter Alaiyah was born. Upon returning to work as a midwife, Nichelle began recording her thoughts on the pandemic and its effects on her NHS colleagues. She told me how she wrote “a few lines at a time – usually 4 am”. Speaking about her recent frontline experience, Nichelle said, “Midwives will always support each other, but morale is at its lowest in maternity hospitals – you can’t pour into an empty cup. There are not enough of us and many feel underestimated. Trusts recruit community staff to fill gaps in hospitals and maternity clinics are closing. Worse yet, many of us feel like we are unable to provide the levels of care, support and safety that we have always wanted.

James Clifford Kent, Senior Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, is turning the series into a book and will present the project’s work alongside Cambridge University’s Babylab in 2022. Read more project stories : @jamescliffordkent

If you have had a miscarriage or baby loss, you can visit Tommy’s one and Sands for support and advice