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That Mama Club

MY POSTNATAL DEPRESSION EXPERIENCE | GUEST POST

Filed Under: BABY, BIRTH TRAUMA, GUEST POST, HOME, MENTAL HEALTH, PPD // January 23, 2021

BY AMY MCLAREN (GUEST WRITER)

 

POSTNATAL DEPRESSION

When I gave birth it was quite surreal and traumatic, I ended up with an emergency section and can’t remember much of the first moments with my daughter, I couldn’t hold her until I came to which was at least an hour after she was born, I woke in recovery to find my partner feeding her which was amazing too but I was upset that I didn’t get that skin to skin I hoped for. I had to stay in due to a post dura headache caused by the epidural and I couldn’t look after her much and due to the pandemic my partner was only allowed in for half an hour each day. I remember one of the girls in the ward saying to me when it gets to day 5 and you can’t stop uncontrollably crying don’t worry it’s just the baby blues and you will feel better in time.

3 days later I got out and wow it hit me like a tonne of bricks, I was sobbing uncontrollably and felt like I couldn’t bond with my baby, it sounds strange but I couldn’t believe she was mine she was so perfect and I actually thought what if they’ve given me the wrong baby.

POSTNATAL DEPRESSION

When I couldn’t stop crying I turned to my partner and said  do you think I could have postnatal depression and he asked the question that will always stick in my brain “well do you love her” obviously I did so It can’t be that I thought.

In the weeks that followed we were so busy with visitors I didn’t have time to think about how I was feeling and then my partner went back to work. I eventually had some quiet quality time with my baby and we really bonded and I love every minute of our time together, however I was still crying daily, I felt like every day was Groundhog Day, I tried to drive to the supermarket and panicked and couldn’t park my car, I didn’t want to go out, answer the door or phone which is not like me at all.
I had to isolate for two weeks also and that made it even worse, eventually it was having an effect on my relationship I couldn’t see the fun in life and I knew this isn’t what motherhood should be so took the plunge and spoke to my health visitor & doctor to get help.

To sum up, postnatal anxiety & depression is not what you might think. The comment made innocently by my boyfriend “do you love her” still sticks in my mind 6 months on. Before I had a baby that’s exactly what I thought postnatal depression would be, that you don’t love your baby, you can’t look after them, you can’t get out of bed, look after your appearance, house etc. In actual fact it’s sometimes loving so much and the overwhelming feeling of responsibility that can make you feel this way & that’s ok, what’s not ok is suffering in silence & I would urge anyone who feels this way to speak up I feel 100x better since being diagnosed and treated.

There is such a taboo & stigma around postnatal depression & sharing our stories is how we help break that!
You’re doing amazing in these strange times mamas don’t forget it.

YOU CAN FIND AMY ON:

INSTAGRAM: @AMYSPOSTBABYJOURNEY

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We are having a break for the month of July! 

It’s been no secret that we have had a lot happening behind the TMC & TKC scenes the last month or so. From moving house and starting new jobs, to being poorly with covid and about to have a baby!!

We absolutely love the community we have here, 30 days wild was huge!! We love you guys so much and We want to give you the best!

With all that in mind, we have decided to take this opportunity to take July off and spend time with our families and come back Aug 1st with a bang! Bigger and better than ever before!

Please continue to use #thatmamaclubig as we will do a huge July round up of our favourites in the Aug newsletter!

We have freebies on our website for you to use over July too!

We will be back Aug 1st with a secret project we have been working on, as well as some amazing new content!

You can find us all over on our personal pages should you wish to keep up wIth us ❤️

We love you all! 
- Team TMC & TKC 🥰
And the winner is ….. Team 3 🙌🙌🙌 The And the winner is …..

Team 3 🙌🙌🙌

The overall scores are as follows:
Third place - team 1 with 11,075 points 
Second place - team 2 with 12,555 points 
First place - team 3 with an amazing 13,390 points 🙌

Congratulations though to everyone who took part in this months event. It’s been such a pleasure seeing all the tags and photos. 

Wish I could tag everyone who entered 😭 as you all did such a fantastic job. 

Can’t wait to do it all again next year 🥰🥰
It’s the last day of our 30 days wild challenge It’s the last day of our 30 days wild challenge and the teams have been absolutely incredible and so creative with how they have accumulated their points. 

It’s been lovely seeing so many families getting involved and pushing themselves to get out and enjoy the beautiful world that surrounds them. 

Thank you to everyone who has tagged us in their photos. We will announce the winning team later on that night after totting up the final scores 🙌🙌
We are heartbroken about the news of Dame Deborah We are heartbroken about the news of Dame Deborah James’ passing. 💔

“Deborah, who many of you will know as Bowelbabe, was an inspiration and we are incredibly proud of her and her work and commitment to charitable campaigning, fundraising and her endless efforts to raise awareness of cancer that touched so many lives.

Deborah shared her experience with the world to raise awareness, break down barriers, challenge taboos and change the conversation around cancer. Even in her most challenging moments, her determination to raise money and awareness was inspiring. 

We thank you for giving us time in private as a family, and we look forward to continuing Deborah’s legacy long into the future through the @bowelbabefund ” 
 - from Deborahs Instagram @bowelbabe 

What an absolutely incredible woman. Our hearts, love, thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends at such an awful time ❤️

We also send love to all those who may find this news triggering in any way - our inbox is always open ❤️

#checkyourpoo #damedeborahjames #bowelbabe #bowelbabefund #bowelcancer #cancerawareness #thatmamaclubig
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