Megan
pnda
Connection is key. Shame dies in safe places.
I'd spent my career as a NICU nurse and midwife educating families on postpartum care and supporting mothers through the baby blues. Never did I imagine it would be me needing the extra support. When I subtly reached out, the response was: "You're a midwife, you'll be fine!".
I was not fine. I cried for what felt like four weeks straight after my first baby was born. I convinced myself anyone would do a better job caring for him than me. I suppressed my anxiety until my second child arrived.
When I returned to work, the anxiety attacks came without warning. They were suffocating. This, and the steep trajectory of my mindset, and supreme ability to overthink, left me spiralling in the wrong direction.
I woke every morning with the same script: "I don't want to be here". It reached a point where, believing my family was better off without me, I drove to a local headland. What got me off the cliff that day was my little girl. She needed a mum.
Hitting rock bottom became a new beginning. I did the hard work and it was painful. I now understand and pay attention to mental health, mental wellbeing, brain health as much as my physical health.
Perinatal depression and anxiety is curable. This is the message that needs to be shouted.