415 | Jessie, one baby, anxiety and depression, private obstetrician, vaginismus, pelvic floor physiotherapist, pregnancy insomnia, TENS, epidural, breastfeeding challenges, postpartum joy
Aug 28, 2023
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Jessie, a woman with a history of anxiety and depression, shares her surprise first birth story. She discusses her preparations for labor and birth with a pelvic floor physiotherapist and the choice to have an epidural. Jessie also opens up about her mental health and breastfeeding challenges, emphasizing the joy of being a mother and the deep love she has for her baby.
Jessie worked closely with her healthcare providers to manage her anxiety and depression during pregnancy, highlighting the importance of seeking professional support.
Jessie emphasizes the joy and love she feels as a mother during the postpartum period, countering the narrative around postnatal depression.
Jessie shares her challenges with breastfeeding, including low birth weight concerns and the pressure to produce enough milk, but eventually finds success by following her instincts.
Deep dives
Pregnancy and Birth Experience
In this podcast episode, Jessie shares her unexpected first pregnancy and birth experience. Despite the surprise pregnancy, Jessie worked closely with her healthcare providers to navigate her anxiety and depression throughout the process. She sought support from her psychiatrist, psychologist, and pelvic floor physiotherapist to manage her mental health and physical well-being. Despite initial concerns and changing birth plans, Jessie describes her labor and delivery as a calm and empowering experience, feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Dealing with Mental Health and Medication During Pregnancy
Jessie openly discusses her history of anxiety and depression and how she managed her mental health during pregnancy. She consulted with her healthcare providers to ensure her medication was safe during pregnancy and made adjustments as needed. Jessie highlights the importance of seeking support from professionals and emphasizes the positive impact that medication adjustments and regular therapy sessions had on her well-being.
Challenges in the Postpartum Period
After giving birth, Jessie shares the challenges she faced in the postpartum period, including fatigue, insomnia, and contracting COVID and the flu simultaneously. She talks about feeling overwhelmed with the constant weighing, measuring, and check-ups for her baby. Jessie also opens up about the pressure to establish breastfeeding and the need for top-ups to ensure her baby was getting enough nutrition. She highlights the importance of acknowledging these postpartum challenges that are often not openly discussed.
Enjoying the Postpartum Period
The speaker expresses her surprise and joy in how much she is enjoying the postpartum period. Despite her anxieties during pregnancy, she finds herself loving and being obsessed with her baby. She discusses how she marinated in negative stories and worries, but now feels blissful and grateful for this special time. She emphasizes the importance of talking about the joy of the postpartum period and countering the narrative around postnatal depression.
The Challenges of Breastfeeding
The speaker shares her struggles with breastfeeding, including low birth weight concerns and difficulty with milk production. She describes the pressure she felt to produce enough milk and the stress of using various techniques (such as power pumping) to increase supply. Despite finding the expressing process depressing, she persisted to ensure her baby's weight gain. Eventually, she stopped the extra expressing and started following her instincts, which resulted in her baby's healthy weight gain and a more pleasant breastfeeding experience.
In today’s episode, Jessie shares her first birth story. Her pregnancy was a surprise and she admits the shock of it definitely informed her experience. With a history of anxiety and depression she worked closely with her psychiatrist and psychologist to navigate changes to her medication and her fears around birth. She also had regular appointments with a pelvic floor physiotherapist who helped relieve her vaginismus and prepare for labour and birth. She made the choice to have an epidural as soon as she felt like the labour pain was becoming too much for her but it was light - she could still feel her legs and was aware of the urge to push - which helped with a quick second stage. Jessie speaks honestly about her mental health and breastfeeding challenges but also emphasises the pure joy of being a mother and the deep love she has for baby Luna.