Meet Christina, mumma of two gorgeous girls! Christina told us she had always wanted to be a mum - for as long as she can remember motherhood was her dream. Today, Christina shares her experience of postpartum depression and antenatal anxiety. We totally agreed with her when she said “ Gosh they aren’t kidding when they say parenthood is a roller coaster, it’s the most rewarding but hardest job you’ll ever do!”

Can you tell us a little bit about your family?

We are a family of four, myself, husband and our two girls Paige and Ava.

At what point did you realise you were suffering from Postpartum Depression?

I seeked support through my GP when my daughter was one years old and I had been back at work for a few months. In hindsight, I had been experiencing symptoms of anxiety since just a few months after my daughter was born.

With my second I had quite bad antenatal anxiety during the first trimester, this along with the morning sickness and postnatal anxiety - it was a lot!

What symptoms did you experience?

For me it’s always been generalised anxiety without anything in particular making me anxious, it’s feeling like my heart is racing even when it’s not. I am also a lot more short tempered and things get to me more easily.

Looking back to my experience with my first baby, one of my main triggers for anxiety was her sleep and feeling like I was failing as a mother if she wasn’t sleeping perfectly to what I thought was a ‘normal schedule’. It felt like there was a direct correlation between her sleeping/not sleeping and my success/lack of as a parent.

Another symptom I had with my first which I didn’t really talk about was intrusive thoughts. These were really alarming and scary for me but because I had never heard them talked about before and I had no idea how common it actually is to have intrusive thoughts in that Postpartum period.

How did you take that first step in seeking help?

Firstly, I talked to my husband about it and then I sought support through my GP. Thankfully, I already had a trusting relationship with my GP but even still, it was hard. It felt like it meant I wasn’t coping/managing as a parent. My GP was amazing though and normalised for me how common postpartum depression/anxiety actually is.

What did you find really helped you through this period of your life?

For me, medication has really helped and although I was against it initially my GP also helped me get there.

Another thing that has really helped me is getting back into exercise thanks to She Moves! I used to exercise 5-6 times a week pre kids as I always found exercise so good for my mental well-being/stress relief so taking the time to do this is so important for me even if it looks a little different now.

The other thing that helped was carving out some ‘me time’ child free when I feel like it’s all getting a bit too much. I need to do this more, something I am working on!

What advice would you give to another mum who might really be struggling with their mental health?

Talk to someone who you trust and feel like you can open up to. Then ideally it’s a good idea to talk to a trusted health professional about it and what steps to take next.

Always remember having challenges to do with your mental health isn’t a reflection on your ability as a parent.

You need to take care of/put yourself first sometimes in order to give the best version of yourself to your child/ren.