The first time Kaden saw his little sister Amelia, it was through a phone screen.
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His mother Katelyn Tepper gave birth to Ameila in Wimmera Base Hospital on April 15, a few weeks after lockdowns began in the region and eight years after Kaden himself came along.
"When he was born, I was able to have my mother and his father there. Family and friends could come in and see him, whereas this time around it was very different," she said.
"I had a bit of a traumatic birth this time: I was able to have my partner (Gerard Emmett) with me but my mum couldn't be there and she was looking after Kaden anyway. Not having family and friends being able to share that joy, and even post-birth leaving hospital.
"My brother is in Melbourne and still hasn't been able to travel down and see her but now he's in lockdown for six weeks. My aunt who I am also very close with hasn't been down (from Melbourne).
"My sister also gave birth on Saturday and they had booked time off to come to see her baby and Amelia. They are absolutely heartbroken: They were really hoping to be here so I think they are feeling quite isolated.
"My parents held Kaden the day he was born, but with Amelia she was 11 or 12 weeks old when they first got to hold her."
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Ms Tepper lives in Murtoa. Her mother Janice is a night shift nurse at Wimmera Base Hospital's aged care residence, and Ms Tepper says this is partly why it took some time for her mother and father, Daryl, to hold their new granddaughter.
"They would come over and look, but they were being really cautious, which I guess the whole world is at the moment," she said.
"Mum would go in the back door, shower and wash her uniform before she walked through the rest of the house, especially through the first wave we had."
Ms Tepper said she was anxious in the lead up to birth.
"The lockdowns were coming in towards the end of my pregnancy, so I had that concern not knowing if it would affect my child long-term if I became infectious," she said.
"I was seeing the doctors at Lister House, and there was some confusion about whether my antenatal appointments were to be telehealth or not. They were face to face, which was a relief, but there was that bit of confusion and worry that I might not be getting the care I would normally.
"When I went into the hospital (to give birth), my partner was at work, so my mum had to take me up, and then she had to quickly leave because my partner arrived: You're only allowed that one allocated visitor."
Ms Tepper said the thing she found hardest was the changing of plans she had made for Amelia's first few months.
"I had envisioned the way I wanted to introduce the child to her older siblings," she said.
"I'd planned for both children to find out the gender and meet their sibling in hospital so both Gerard and myself could be a part of their joy and see their reactions and excitement. I felt robbed in a way that couldn't happen.
"Both siblings basically couldn't embrace Amelia until she came out of the hospital, and we broke the news via facetime, which really wasn't the same. With my maternity leave I was unable to meal prep like I planned due to shortages and purchase limits on food and meats.
"I made my son a scrapbook when he was born, and you've got all those photos of his first cuddles with his uncles and grandparents. They were taken in the hospital when he was hours old, whereas I don't have those photos with Amelia, and she's not a newborn when she met her first family.
"I guess when both children look back on their baby albums, they are going to be very different. (The pandemic) has taken away a lot of excitement of being able to say 'here's my baby'.
"I've been keeping paperclips and did a photo with a sign 'my first pandemic" when she was only a few days old. Kaden is keeping a journal and writing a lot of stuff about how the world has changed, what a typical day looked like, so we've sort of bound that up.
"Another positive was he was homeschooling in term two, so he was able to bond with her rather than going straight off to school."
Ms Tepper's sister Carly also gave birth this year, on the Saturday just gone.
She said she had plans to get the whole family together to meet the two newest members once restrictions eased sufficiently. Another brother of hers planned to get married in Adelaide in October, a date which remains uncertain.
"Our whole year has changed. We are still very blessed and happy with two healthy babies, which is a shining light in these uncertain times," she said.
"It will make for some great 21st stories."
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