A pregnancy and baby teacher and new mother have told of the devastating effects the coronavirus has had on them.
Linzy Thirlaway, 43, from Wallsend, teaches pregnancy and baby classes. Bump, Baby and Beyond switched to running online classes when the UK went into lockdown, but the lack of human contact has proved heart-breaking.
She said: “I taught a pregnancy class last week. One of the mums started crying. That was really difficult.”
Nikki Shanks, 35, from Newcastle, recently gave birth to a baby girl, and has needed to overcome the reality of being a new mother during a pandemic.
She said: “For months, we’ve talked about how I would spend my maternity leave. The baby hasn’t met anybody from the family.”