Face to face with baby Alicia

By Meg Hill

Baby Alicia and her mum were out promenading last month picking up a bit of culture from buskers.

Alicia was born on July 7, which was only two days before Victoria went back into lockdown.

She hasn’t been to playgroup and her mum Claudia De Alba has only met up with one other mum.

“It’s a bit sad,” she said. “My baby is half French and half Mexican. Our families are back home.”

The isolation hasn’t bothered them too much but the birth was quite stressful.

“It was hard. She was born at 8.45am and we left hospital the same day. The less people in hospital than better,” Claudia said.

This was not a desirable situation for having a baby and some mothers have experienced even worse situations.

One mother came down with a cold the day after she had the baby and was discharged from hospital and was unable to see him until she returned a negative result.

Claudia is on maternity leave from RMIT and she’s spent the lockdown doing a Masters in Rehabilitation Counselling, talking to friends and going to church.

“There’s not a lot of people on Harbour Esplanade,” she said. She and her partner have been living here for five years.

“I think I have to make the best of it. It’s been a tough time but I’ll always be grateful. We now value our jobs a lot more, our friends more and meeting people face to face.”