Post 2:
My story....
This is my own personal story, please be kind.... Although I have had Post Natal Depression (PND) with each of my babies, it hit me differently with each one. With one of them I couldn't put them down, hated it when anyone else went to hold them, with one I struggled to bond, with the other it felt that I was giving them away far too soon. PND is hideous. It's meant to be a magical time and the best thing in the world, only sometimes it isn't. sometimes it's f*ing hard just to get up and to take care of this tiny little person that you suddenly have all the responsibility for and are meant to know exactly what to do.... Except for when they have milk allergies, or don't sleep for days on end, or you feel you're failing in every area, or you couldn't give birth naturally or if you couldn't breastfeed.... The list goes on. It's only now that these things are being more openly talked about - with the help of some amazing people on social media such as Knee Deep In Life and I Know, I Need To Stop Talking who are amazing and are saying things as they really are for so many.... I didn't know that if you had it once, you could have it again and again. I also didn't know that the symptoms would be so very different from each other. I was lucky my husband helped spot the signs and allowed me the time and space to work through it.
However we also have other experiences in our house with my wonderful husband having dealt with severe clinical depression, severe anxiety, social phobia, panic attacks..... So we talk a lot about mental health in our house - whether this is the right thing or not, our children have grown up knowing that it's OK to not be OK, that sometimes things really are hard and mental health matters.
www.dealingwithdepression.co.uk was born from a conversation I was having with an amazing lady who I had become friends with from her parenting forum. When my husband first became diagnosed I was lost. I had no idea how to help him. I asked the doctor and didn't get much help apart from, "it will take as long as it takes," and, "just help him to remember to take his medication." It took so much more than that. It's very isolating being desperate to find answers, but when some of those searches lead you to places on the internet where self harm and suicide were being advocated as "coping strategies" I was terrified. So I started designing and www.dealingwithdepression.co.uk was born. I've been running it ever since my lovely husband bought it from her for my wedding present. It is my 4th baby and I'm very proud of what we do.
Suzi
#worldmentalhealthday2021 #dealingwithdepression #WMHD #WMHD2021
Reply With Quote