Real Postnatal Illness Stories

Below are personal accounts from mums and dads who experienced postnatal illness first hand. A word of warning - people's personal stories of postnatal illness can be very distressing particularly if you are feeling vulnerable yourself, be aware of how they make you feel and only read them if your feeling OK. Back to index of stories.

Steve's story - "My wife was postnatal from the outset, although it took a year before she was diagnosed. She haemorrhaged before she went into labour, required a blood transfusion due to severe anaemia so it's no surprise looking back that she was postnatal after the birth of our son, Samuel."

From personal experience, the initial feelings are undoubtedly echoed from those of the sufferer - anxiety, worry, frustration, self-doubt, 'Why is this happening to me?'

However, as time goes by, things do get better...

Early on, you both find yourselves asking 'when will this ever end?', but time is a great healer and there is light at the end of the tunnel.

My mum in law also suffered from postnatal depression and was therefore better placed at times to offer support in terms of relating to the actual condition itself. Other support networks included support groups and friends who have suffered in similar ways.

In addition to the medication and available support networks, one of the best things you can do to help, is talk it through with your partner. Some days you may wish there was something else to talk about other than the illness and you may worry that focusing too much on the negative is a bad thing. However, what you soon realise is that this thing has consumed your partner to the extent that it is all they want and really need to talk about.

Talking about it helps both of you come to terms with what is happening and this is vital as the illness can be a very difficult thing to understand. For example: How long will it last? what can I really do to help ? how can I try to understand something which even the doctors struggle to define? (i.e. a chemical imbalance).

Of course every individual is uniquely different and some may be better equipped to deal with such difficult times, but that said, I do feel from personal experience that 'talking about it' is the first step for both of you in what could be quite a long and bumpy road."

Steve is married to Marion and has a beautiful son "Samuel"

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