Hope and support for Birth Trauma & Perinatal PTSD
I’m always deeply touched every time another woman* shares her story with me, often because the level of trust that this requires, but also that sharing what awful things a person has survived is difficult and painful. I have just
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Can you hear the voices speak?Is it your ears that they do seek? Some a quiet, some are strong.Do you know to whom they belong? Voices that carry words of pain.Often quivering from the strain. Others full of worthy praise.Filled
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I sat in the psychiatrist’s room, the light shining on my back, warming my tired bones. I had lost hope, hope that anyone could hear me, or know what was clawing at my soul. I finished my story, my years
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“Help me, it’s like the walls are caving in.Sometimes I feel like giving up.But I just can’t.It isn’t in my blood.” Shawn Mendes “Laying on the bathroom floor, feeling nothing.I’m overwhelmed and insecure, give me something,I could take to ease
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My daughter was standing right next to me, her cheeks rosy from the cold wind blowing across the pond. Her tiny hands clutch tightly small pieces of bread, ready to throw to the very eagerly awaiting ducks, she’s happy, and
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It’s hard to talk about birth trauma, but even harder to talk about suicide. Yet I know from the women who contact me and my own experience that dealing day in, and day out, with the impact of a traumatic
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I sat in the chair feeling numb, was I really in denial? I didn’t think I was, but then I wasn’t the expert. The Community psychiatric nurse (CPN) in front of me wore an expression mixed with pity and frustration.
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I feel worried. Worried, because there seems to be somewhat of a perinatal bandwagon lately. Wherever you look, there are articles, stories being shared and people discussing perinatal mental health, it’s loud, in your face, singing and dancing. This is
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I read the article, tears stinging my eyes. I blink them away and try to let my logical mind silence the thunderous beating in my chest. I look at my daughters, they are smiling sharing jokes, laughing and I wonder.
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I could barely hold the funnel to my breast. My hands, swollen and numb grasped as hard as they could, my body, weak, hardly had the strength I needed. I lay there, on the hospital bed, the noise of the
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You know the ones I mean. You have seen them. The all singing websites and the glossy leaflets. You scroll down and see smiling, happy faces and the testimonies that pull at your heart. Then there are the promises, the
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‘May your story be a page in someone else’s survival guide’ The years have passed but the memories are etched on my mind. There are certain things you can’t erase, forever burnt into the recesses of your mind, scars that
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For any family, emotional well-being matters. When it comes to mental health the perinatal period can be a challenging time. Adjusting to life with a new baby is hard, but for some families, the transition to parenthood is complicated by
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I remember when I was a child, I had a beautiful doll that cried real tears, and when you fed her a bottle she wet her nappy…I thought she was amazing! When we are little we play mommies and daddies
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The room was dark and my pillow was wet with silent tears. I could hear my husband breathing deeply as asleep beside me, but sleep had escaped me. I wished the hours away waiting for the light of day to
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This is the third of three blogs looking at what matters in Birth. The previous blog looked at what women voiced about what matters to them most when it comes to their birth experience. This blog is some of the
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We all know that when it comes to our emotional well-being there are many factors that contribute to our feeling healthy. No more so is this true than when it comes to healthy relationships, as they can have a massive
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I lifted my eyes and looked at everyone around the room, some were colleagues, others were strangers, some had tears falling from their eyes, others looked shocked and in disbelief, and everyone was silent. Someone rushed and embraced me and
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‘The experience of birth will stay with a woman her whole life time‘ Ask any woman her birth story and she will recount it with ease, there is no experience that can compare to bringing a tiny baby into the
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There’s a well-known saying that ‘words can cut like a knife’. What we say can have a lasting effect on the person at the end of the words we use, our words can be uplighting or encouraging but they can
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When people think about post-traumatic stress (PTSD) they often think of a soldier, returning from battle traumatised and battered by the ravages of war and the terrible things seen and experienced. However, PTSD doesn’t only affect those affected in the
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They say that blood is thicker than water when it comes to relationships, but sometimes the support that we need doesn’t always come from the places and the people we expect, namely those that we love, but instead from those
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This is the second of three blogs. The first blog looked at the growing concerns around how we can support women to have a less medicalised birth. To find out what really matters to women in birth and what matters
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I’m feeling hopeful. Much more so than I have for the many years previously, where birth trauma was hardly mentioned and women would often have their experiences dismissed due to them being told that they should be grateful for having
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They say the road to recovery can be a long one and I know the true meaning of those words, often the road is long and bumpy, you can take a few wrong turns and even be directed the wrong
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There are growing conversations about helping women to have what is termed a ‘normal birth’, that is a birth free of interventions including no pain relief etc. Years ago, for women giving birth at home, it was a risky event,
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I’m recovered…….mostly. Now and then however PTSD likes to give me reminder that it is still with me lying dormant, like a monster that tries to awake and again take me hostage. Sometimes it rears its head, waking from its
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“I have never dealt with anything more difficult than my own mind”. My daughter’s birthday is always mixed emotions for me, a day to celebrate the light she brought into my life but it was always bittersweet because it was
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Today is World Mental Health Day. Many people are sharing their stories about the reality of living with mental health. Why is this important? Because by sharing our stories and uniting our voices we can be the change needed to
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Over the last few years, I have been privileged to be part of some very important discussions around supporting parents and families within healthcare. As a patient rep, it is always a bit daunting to try to have your voice
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