A mom-to-be was left laughing when her pregnancy scan seemed to show her baby wearing a mask—only to test positive for the CCP virus shortly after.
Samantha Spicer, 34, from Rushden, Northamptonshire, was nervous to attend her 12-week scan, but her worries soon turned to giggles when she saw her unborn baby seeming to wear a mask in the womb.
The hairdresser said: “It was a shock to see my baby wearing a mask in the womb, but so funny and it really summed up being pregnant during COVID.
“Even more so when just days later I was diagnosed with the virus.”
Due to lockdown restrictions, Samantha was forced to attend her antenatal appointment without her husband, David, 32.
But family were quick to point out the funny side of the photo when they shared the news of their pregnancy.
The couple, who have been together 11 years and married in 2018, have an older son, Harry, 9, and their daughter is due in May.
The mobile hairdresser and her mechanical worker husband were left laughing when their 12-week scan photo proved their daughter was already fully aware of everything going on in the world around her.
The varying, sketchy shadows on the scan are visibly lighter across the nose, mouth, and chin of baby’s face and the same lighter color makes a clean line back across the side of baby’s head, like the string of a mask tucking behind her little ear.
“It was so clear to see, plain as day,” laughed the soon-to-be mom-of-two.
And it wasn’t just a mother’s eye that saw the distinct mask-shaped contour on her little one’s face.
“The staff looked at the monitor and then looked at me and we both started to laugh. I said ‘yes I can see it too! She looks just like she is wearing a mask,’” Samantha said.
In another scan photo, their daughter can be seen appearing to wave “hi,” with her tiny hand raised in the air.
However, just a short while after the scan, Samantha tested positive for the CCP virus and whilst they initially thought the photo was just a light-hearted coincidence, Samantha said she now feels the unusual photo had a deeper meaning.
“We didn’t know it at the time, but after I was told I had COVID, it felt like a sign from baby telling me she would be safe.
“We joked she was wearing her mask to protect herself from me and it helped me keep calm. It was a very worrying time to be pregnant and fighting COVID, but thankfully I am now over the worst of it and looking forward to a less stressful pregnancy going forward.”
Samantha said the photo is very apt for the current global situation: “It just sums up being pregnant during lockdown and this crazy time. It’s an odd world we are living in right now and I think it was her way to let me know she is safe and happy.”
She added: “I am nervous about going into labour during a lockdown. With everything happening of course I am apprehensive about her being delivered safely and whether David will be able to be with me and what restrictions we will face.
“It’s a very uncertain time, but we are keeping positive and the scan photo really made us smile—at least we know she is prepared for lockdown life on the outside.”
