Mothers who gave birth at the height of lockdown have re-lived the terrifying moment they waved goodbye to their partners and walked into hospital alone as they share their fury at the government 'partygate' scandal.
When we asked our readers what they were doing in May 2020, the time of the now-notorious Downing Street "work event", attended by the Prime Minister, we were inundated with heartbreaking stories from people who'd followed the restrictions at huge personal cost.
While many had lost loved ones, it was also a difficult time for those whose families were being joined by a new member.
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Many grandparents were left unable to visit their new grandchildren, resorting to waving at them through windows, waiting months before they could even hold them.
And for the mothers who gave birth at the height of the pandemic, following the rules meant facing a terrifying trip into hospital alone, while their anxious partners waited for news. Most were allowed a birthing partner in the room at the moment of labour - but for many that meant hours, days or even weeks alone waiting for the birth and facing complications without a loved one present.
Among these mothers was Nicola Easter, whose daughter Nancy was born in May 2020, just 36 weeks into pregnancy.
Nicola, who had "always dreamed of being a mother", was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia in late April and rushed to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary with dangerously high blood pressure.
She spent days on the ward alone, while husband Simon was forced to wait at their home in Walkergate, not knowing what might happen.
Nicola, 47, said: "It was pretty tough, to be honest: I was stuck in hospital on my own for about three weeks, my husband couldn't come to visit, I couldn't have my sister or my mam and dad there. Obviously it was amazing because I had my daughter, who I had longed for for a long time, she was worth it, but it was very hard.
"I couldn't have any visitors, which was very tough for my husband, and although the staff on the ward were amazing, they're not your family."
After waiting for 13 terrifying days on the ward alone, on May 8 doctors told Nicola it was time to attempt a natural birth - but when they discovered the baby was in the breech position and she would have to undergo a C-Section. The moment she was wheeled in to theatre for the urgent operation was the first time she had seen her husband in nearly two weeks.
Nicola said she was "lucky" to be able to spend several hours of that day with him and her daughter as they recovered - but with Nancy needing a feeding tube and Nicola still suffering the affect-effects of surgery, they had to stay in hospital, so at the end of the day, Simon had to say goodbye to his new daughter just hours after he met her for the first time.
She said: "It was really difficult for him because he had this new family, his wife had just had major surgery and he had to leave. I don't think I had appreciated how big the surgery was, but I had her on the Friday and on the Sunday when I tried to get out of bed I couldn't walk, there was all this pain. I was still on my own, I couldn't have any visitors, it's really hard to ring your husband and tell him how much pain you're in when he can't do anything."
Although their story ended happily, there were moments when Nicola and Simon didn't know what might happen, and they were forced to deal with that fear separately, unable to comfort each other. When she heard what Downing Street employees including the country's Prime Minister had been doing the same month she had endured that fear, Nicola said she felt furious.
She said: "I was absolutely fuming. I'm 47, so my parents are quite a bit older, and they took the Covid restrictions really seriously, so I had my daughter in May and I wasn't allowed in my father's house until that Christmas. That was the first time he held his granddaughter.
"I just think, how can you be in charge of our country and set these rules when you are swanning off in your own back garden, drinking your wine with your friends, while nobody was able to hold and enjoy the daughter that I had longer for. It's so, so frustrating. I'm angry and I think he needs to resign."
She dismissed Mr Johnson's claim that nobody had told him the gathering would be against the rules as "an absolute load of rubbish".
Another mother who was infuriated by the Prime Minister's claims was Boldon mum-of-four Lyndsay Beatie.
She gave birth to youngest son Jack on May 19 at Sunderland Royal Hospital, the day before the controversial gathering.
She said: "It was quite a scary time: I've got four children but this is the first time I've had to go in to be induced so I didn't know what to expect and not being able to have my husband with me was scary. I went in on the 18th and I wasn't discharged until the 20th, my husband wasn't allowed in until I was actually in labour.
"It was an awful time, I can remember being dropped off at the hospital, I went one way and my husband went another. You just want your partner to be with you and he couldn't be, I just burst into tears.
"When we came home with him, it was quite sad: normally you would have your family there but we couldn't. My Nana was very poorly so I could only show her Jack from the door, she couldn't even touch him.
"We stuck to the rules, we didn't have anybody round. I stayed in most of the time because I was scared, I work in a GP surgery and I actually had to stop work early because it was such a worrying time.
"I just thought [the party] was absolutely shocking, it was disgusting. They can go and have their parties but we stuck to the rules, I lost valuable time with my Nana, who died when Jack was five months old, I couldn't spend that time with her.
"It's like it's one rule for one and another rule for the others. Even my other children knew they had to follow the rules."
On Wednesday, an embattled Boris Johnson announced that 'Plan B' Covid rules would be coming to an end - with the removal even of the order to isolate after testing positive for Covid by March.
Whilst Mr Johnson insisted vaccine success and the end of the 'peak' of infections made it the right time for a rule change, Lyndsay wondered whether public health might not have been the only motivation.
"All of a sudden, because their parties are coming out, they've dropped everything," she said.
"What they've done is getting out and I think Boris is probably thinking he can drop the rules to keep everybody on his side."
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