After a blissful experience with her first son, it never occurred to Jess that a subsequent pregnancy and postpartum could be any different - until she found out she was pregnant with twins.
From real and perceived health complications, Jess’s mental health rapidly declined with every intrusive thought and compulsion that took over her life. The increased caretaking demands of parenting multiples and a toddler only compounded the feeling that she wasn’t enough for her children. Despite being cared for by the local acute mental health team, Jess started to experience hallucinations and psychosis.
This is one mother’s heart-wrenching story that epitomises the painful realities of experiencing a perinatal mental illness: of your children being both your motivation to get better and your trigger; of wanting to keep your children safe but feeling unsafe in your own body and mind; and of wanting the best for your children but feeling like they’re better off without you.
This is Jess’s story. And it isn’t a story to miss.
EPISODE SPONSOR
This episode is proudly brought to you by Tommee Tippee Australia. Tommee Tippee knows that for every newborn baby, there's a newborn parent too.
Tommee Tippee was founded over half a century ago, born from a mission to make life easier for parents. For decades they've been designing products that enhance a parent’s intuition, and engineering solutions to make caring for babies easier, simpler, and more instinctive. You’ve got this, we've got you.
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MADE WITH LOVE by Rebecca (host, founder, storyteller) x
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