Thank you, both of you, for raising this. I'm going to speak about my experience and also my daughter's, who has given me—. She has said that I'm allowed to speak on it. She also thinks it's really important because she has a lot of friends that are suffering as well.

My first child was born in hospital. She was large. I lost a lot of blood and nearly fainted while trying to pick her up. So, the second was induced, but this time nobody believed I was actually in labour, and it was nearly born in the hospital toilet. I was finally wheelchaired into the labour room in a panic. Determined that my husband would not miss the birth of the third child, a home birth was planned. That went well but, unfortunately, it was Christmas. I was inundated with visitors who wanted to see the newborn. My husband was ill in bed and I wished I was in hospital instead, having a rest. 

The week I became a Member of the Senedd, I also became a grandmother. My daughter, a teacher, caught COVID at 12 weeks. A week later, she fainted several times and it was discovered that she had an irregular heartbeat, and we don't know if it was due to the pregnancy or the virus. She then later caught shingles. The baby was induced early because of reduced movements. He was unexpectedly large and she had two hours of stitches that were needed to repair the damage. Thankfully, they are both fine and I had to make sure they were both fine before coming to the Senedd on my first day.

You never forget giving birth to your children. It's not textbook, and it's still one of the most traumatic and difficult experiences, with little time to recover, and your life and identity are taken over by a demanding little person, and people forget to ask how you are doing. When I see my daughter, I always ask her first how she's doing before going to see the baby.