Augusta, GA (WJBF) – For the last 9 months, NewsChannel 6’s Barclay Bishop has been navigating through her first pregnancy during the pandemic. As she prepares for maternity leave, she and her husband share what’s been happening behind the scenes.

Pregnant during a pandemic. As if becoming a first-time parent wasn’t scary enough.

“I would definitely say it’s been tough. I mean as you know I’ve had to miss a bunch of appointments which has not been easy to say the least,” said George Lyles, Barclay’s Husband.

I wouldn’t say my husband George and I have had the easiest road to get here. But after a year of losses we were blessed to have Baby Cole on the way. With that, came countless appointments with my high-risk OB that George wasn’t allowed to be at due to COVID restrictions.

“At first we had a number of things that seemed out of wack and so you know, I wasn’t there to be able to receive the news with you. And you know, that always kind of scared me seeing you coming home crying a bunch and I didn’t know how to comfort you sometimes,” said Lyles.

Fortunately George was able to go with me to regular OB appointments. Meaning he was able to hear Cole’s heartbeat and be there for some ultrasounds. But as time went on, the pandemic hit close to home, George getting COVID and me having to isolate to avoid getting it myself.

“It was very scary to say the least because as we had talk to doctors and stuff there had been ideas that COVID could throw pregnancy into motion a little bit sooner so we did everything we could to prevent that from happening,” said Lyles

As some women experience, towards the end of my pregnancy, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and some bouts of high blood pressure. These last few weeks I’ve been working from home, making sure I’m healthy and ready for Cole’s arrival. An arrival we’ve been praying over a year for, and one that no pandemic could ever steal our joy. But despite navigating the pandemic, it could never steal our joy over this arrival we spent more than a year praying for.

“Pray. Have faith and just lean on each other. It’s tough and this definitely doesn’t make it any easier. Pregnancy is tough in general without a pandemic going on, but even more so with it,” said Lyles.

Just a few more days until Baby Cole is expected to be here with us. As I (Barclay) head into maternity leave we just wanted to say thank you for everyone’s support on this journey and we cannot wait to introduce you to the newest member of the WJBF family once he’s arrived.