A mother-of-two has told how she feared her baby would die every time she went to sleep as she battled and postpartum psychosis following the birth of her son.
Business owner Emily Whalley, 32, from High Peak, Derbyshire, suffered from severe mental health issues following the birth of Arthur, now six, but was left to ‘carry on with her life’ due to insufficient medical support.
She suffered further trauma following the difficult birth of her younger son Henry, now three, who was born with health issues.
Now Emily is now on the road to recovery and has retrained as a holistic sleep therapist to help other mothers.
She is speaking out in order to raise awareness of the issue of mothers’ mental health, saying it is not taken seriously enough.
Emily Whalley (pictured with son Arthur), 32, from the High Peak in Derbyshire, suffered from PTSD and postpartum psychosis after the birth of her eldest son Arthur
Emily says her husband Andrew (pictured right) helped her while she struggled with her mental health following the birth of their eldest son Arthur (on Andrew’s shoulder)
Business owner Emily fell pregnant for the first time at 24 and was ‘so excited’ to become a mother.
She prepared for labour by taking a hypnobirthing course but her plans were thrown into the air when her son, Arthur, was two weeks overdue and she was encouraged to induce labour.
‘I didn’t really feel in control of the situation,’ she recalled.’I also reacted badly to the medication.’
Emily added Arthur ended up in a back-to-back position and tests revealed there was meconium in the amniotic fluid – meaning there were faeces in her waters.
Meconium in the water can cause meconium aspiration syndrome in the newborn, making it difficult for him or her to breathe.
A blood test taken while the baby was still inside the womb also revealed he had incredibly low oxygen levels and was in distress.
Emily’s youngest son Henry was born with several health complications at just 31 weeks old, sportsbook software which was a frightening time for her family
Emily now runs the Fox and Moon Project to support other parents who are struggling with their mental health as a result of their children’s unhealthy sleeping patterns
After 48 hours in hospital Emily was rushed into the operating theatre for an emergency C-section and baby Arthur was delivered.
‘I was a first-time mum and I was very vulnerable.It was very traumatic,’ Emily recalled.
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS femail" data-version="2" id="mol-837cf240-fe08-11ec-9203-7b4361dec4cd" website was scared to sleep in case my baby died after traumatic birth'
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