Derbyshire mum calling for more dedicated support after pregnancy
Emily Fox, from High Peak, suffered from postpartum psychosis after giving birth to Arthur and is now pushing for more emotional support
A mother from Derbyshire is calling for more dedicated support for parents after pregnancy , after she suffered from postpartum psychosis.
Emily Fox, is a mother of two from High Peak, and she experienced symptoms of psychosis after a traumatic birth with her first born, Arthur.
Emily spoke about her experience: "I had my first baby when I was 25 and being a mom was all I ever wanted to do and I had this kind of idea of what birth would be like.
"Unfortunately my birth with Arthur didn't go the way I expected and I hadn't prepared for that. It was a very, very long five day labour and and a subsequent 5 day stay in hospital afterwards in which I felt very anxious, very out of control, very overwhelmed.
"By the time I've got home, obviously hadn't had probably more than about four or five hours in 10 days. So I actually suffered from postpartum psychosis that was triggered by sleep deprivation.
"It's it's a very, very serious mental health implication, and it can be triggered by things like like no sleep and obviously all your hormones are everywhere. With Arthur, obviously initially I had the emergency situation of having psychosis and that kind of manifested in me hallucinating that he had died.
"That he just stopped. He stopped breathing. Like I could see that happening. I wouldn't let anybody touch him. I wouldn't let anybody hold him. And I'm not kind of. Then slowly progressed into kind of very generalized anxiety about him, which really overtook my life."
Emily sought mental health support to help prepare for having another baby, and referred herself to the perinatal psychiatry team.
Emily then became pregnant with Henry, but after 30 weeks her waters broke in the middle of the night: "He was very premature and he also had a life threatening skin condition that was very rare and at the time of his birth nobody knew what was wrong with him.
"We've had 90 admissions with Henry in hospital over the last four years. He's now nearly four. And my the work that I put in before I'd had Henry gave me the opportunity to access support that I wouldn't have thought I'd needed. And it didn't get to the point that I felt like with Arthur."
Emily believes that enough isn't being done to help families after giving birth: "First time mums need that kind of education before they head into pregnancy and head into giving birth that, they do need to look for that help really, and that needs to be there for them.
"I think it's more about not just educating parents on hormonal shifts and moods and how they might feel, but also what's contributing to those feelings.
"I don't think it's as simple as preparing people for feeling blue, or preparing people for feeling anxious or depressed."
Emily is now a holistic sleep coach and runs 'Fox and The Moon' as a sleep consultant for parents with babies who are struggling to sleep.