Series 2 - Episode 8

This week my guest is Lara, a mother of two who works as an art psychotherapist in a hospice. Lara's story is very complex and raises lots of important issues.

Her first pregnancy was a typical "HG pregnancy", not being told about medication, being offered it but then being told not to take it and being dismissed by health professionals and maternity workers.

We speak about how she managed to block out her first pregnancy as she longed so much for more children.

Her second pregnancy was a nightmare. This time she did take medication but again felt like she wasn't given enough information about what she was taking and which drug was actually working.

Her numerous experiences with A&E, horrendous and quite simply abusive comments from health care professionals and a traumatic experience where she was left in a wheelchair to fend for herself, Lara's husband made the decision to take advantage of his private health care and get his wife some help.

Lara's time in private health care was a positive one and whilst she never felt "normal" she was able to go back to some kind of normality.

Lara's career as an art psychotherapist in a palliative care hospice has given her a unique view of hyperemesis - seeing the similarities between the end of life and this horrendous illness.

We also talk about mental health, anxiety during and after pregnancy and her primal instinct to want more children and how that has been taken away from her.