An Edinburgh mum has shared her joy after giving birth to a healthy baby boy just one year after tragically miscarrying during lockdown.
Tamar Willoughby, 27 and her husband Matt, 28 first got pregnant in January 2020 months before the Covid pandemic hit the UK.
The pregnancy came as a happy surprise to the high school sweethearts who moved up from Stoke-on-Trent to the capital just a couple of years before to start their photography business.
The 27-year-old snapper had only told her mum and partner's parents the happy news when sadly she began bleeding every time she used the bathroom and knew something wasn’t right.
After getting scans the couple were told the devastating news that while the baby was still alive in the second trimester, there was an 80 percent chance of miscarriage.
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Tragically Tamar went through the two-week miscarriage at home going into mini labour in the bathroom in their house at the beginning of March 2020.
The couple were told to wait a couple of months before trying again and became pregnant in June 2020 with their now 11-month-old son Shiloh.
In a cruel blow, Tamar’s 30-year-old sister who lived back in her home town of Stoke tested positive for Covid and died five days later before baby Shiloh was born.
Due to lockdown restrictions at the time, the new mum wasn’t able to go to the funeral which was two days after the birth of her son.
She could one send a video to be shown at the funeral filmed from her hospital bed with Shiloh in her arms.
Thrown into motherhood it was difficult for Tamar to grieve for the loss of her sister which she is only beginning to come to terms with almost a year later. But touchingly, she gave her son a middle name after her sister Kizzy Kumari Smith.
The family moved up to Edinburgh in 2018 so Matt, 28, could do his Masters degree in Theology at the University of Edinburgh.
During the same year, his wife started her photography business with the couple now working together as it goes from strength-to-strength.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live Tamara said: “Me and Matt have been together since we were 16 and started hanging out between the summer high school ended and sixth form.
“He was my first boyfriend, two weeks after we started dating he said, ‘We are going to get married’ . People shook it off as a first love and thought it was crazy but six years later we did.
“He proposed when I was 21 I was at university in Birmingham and he said he needed to talk to me. I came home and he picked me up and we went to the Roaches in the Peak District where we always used to walk. He was really nervous and almost seemed grumpy.
“I said I just need to tell you something. I thought is he going to break up with me? Then he proposed. We got married two years later when I was 22 and he was 23.
A couple of years later the high school sweethearts moved to Edinburgh and it has been their home ever since.
“He was doing a masters in Theology and I wanted to start my photography business so we moved up to Edinburgh.
“In 2019 it really took off, we were on the Isle of Skye every other month taking American tourists up to snap shots all over Scotland.
“We did a lot of weddings but when the pandemic hit all of our clients cancelled. Thankfully the Scottish Government offered grants which got us through," she said.
A month into 2020 the couple got the exciting news that they were expecting their first baby.
“I got pregnant in January 2020 just before the pandemic, it was a surprise, I had just come off the pill and we were not trying for a baby.
“Just as the pandemic was hitting I had a miscarriage. I began to bleed when I went to the toilet and went to the hospital for a scan. Luckily Matt was allowed to come with me at this point as it was the beginning of Covid.
“The miscarriage was brutal it was over two weeks, during the second trimester. We got told the baby was still alive but there was something wrong with their heart so there was an 80 percent chance of miscarrying.
“We went home and in March 2020 I went into mini labour at home, going through the miscarriage in our bathroom.
“We were mourning for two months afterwards when we got pregnant again. We were heartbroken but it was a relief. It was terrifying going through it so soon after.
“I was just praying every time I went to the toilet there wouldn’t be any blood. I had to go to all the scans alone and take videos to send to Matt which I wasn't always allowed to do," she added.
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A year and ten days after Tamar gave birth to a beautiful baby boy Shiloh.
The 27-year-old continued: “Five days after she tested positive, my sister died of Covid. Nearly a year later I’m coming to terms with it more.
“I couldn’t even go to the funeral at the time due to travel restrictions which took place two days after Shiloh was born. It was streamed online and a video I filmed from my bed in hospital talking about her was shown at the funeral.
“She used to joke when I got pregnant if it was a girl I should call her Kumari after her and if it was a boy call him Kumar which means Prince of Peace. Which I did.”
The young family have changed the focus of their business to family photography after everything they have been through over the last two years.
Tamar said: “We aren’t doing weddings anymore. The event industry is just too unpredictable after all the lockdowns. We have switched to family photography which suits the stage our life is at now.
“After going through the miscarriage and giving birth being able to celebrate women and their journeys is so much more fulfilling.
“Scotland is our forever home now.”
You can follow their stunning photography page here.
