"You have got to weigh up what is right for the mental health of a mother"
The maternity restrictions in Ireland have caused such distress, heartache, and harm for new parents, pregnant people, and parents-to-be.
Women have been forced to find out about miscarriages and baby loss without anyone by their side. Others have gone through painful and lonely births as their partner or loved one sat out in the car park.
The damage these restrictions are causing is a major concern.
TV presenter Kathryn Thomas has called out the maternity restrictions in Ireland and said it is time for them to end.
Thomas is expecting her second child and is due to give birth in just a few weeks.
Speaking about her second pregnancy, she admitted it has been hard to attend scans and appointments without her partner Padraig by her side.
She admitted she would have attended this week's March for Maternity protest if she wasn't so close to her due date.
"We have heard horrific stories of mothers or mothers-to-be who’ve had to receive news and we all know how long hospital corridors are and that walk I couldn’t even imagine that walk to out to the car park or any sort of news."
"A lot of focus is rightly on the mom but people aren’t remembering the partners whether it’s a same-sex relationship or dad’s sitting outside it’s so difficult to be removed," Thomas told
The Sun.
"Padraig has found it difficult not to be there because he knows how nervous I get going into scans. No matter how far into the pregnancy you are you still have that little twinge of trepidation you want it to go right," she shared.
The mum added that she is a supporter and believes the restrictions need to change.
Thomas has previously opened up about suffering a miscarriage and said no woman should have to go through that alone.
"You have got to weigh up what is right for the mental health of a mother and a partner."
Thomas said the "devastation" that comes with finding out you've had a miscarriage is unbelievable.
She said it's "hard to imagine" all of the women who went through that moment alone.
The soon-to-be mum-of-two said it's hard to even explain what that moment is like "because you’re so lost in sadness and grief and anger and confusion that you don’t know your a**e from your elbow."
"When I think back it’s kind of like an out-of-body experience so to have somebody there to ask the right questions, to hold your hand. So I just can’t imagine what it would be like."
Hundreds of women protested for an end to maternity restrictions in Ireland this week.
Maternity campaigners said
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has let the women of Ireland down.
