Tamara Bayley - retained placenta, postpartum mental health & heart explosions!

Tamara spent the first half of her pregnancy dealing with debilitating nausea, which she was on prescribed medication to manage. She found it had such a profound impact on her mental health, whilst trying to continue to feel grateful for the gift that is a baby.

Jock's birth was pretty 'straightforward', progressing naturally from 3pm to birthing him 4 hours later. Amazingly, Jock was 1 in the 80,000 births where the baby is born in the amniotic sac. Tam also had a slight complication whereby she had a retained placenta, meaning it had to be manually removed under general anaesthetic.

Her breastfeeding journey hasn’t been the easiest as it was off to a delayed start as her milk came in later than the norm. That, and Jock not being the best sleeper (understatement!), amongst other things then contributed to Tam having quite a difficult time with her mental health in the first six months or so. After thinking she was just experiencing prolonged baby blues, she recognised she wasn’t in a great place mentally and after consulting with a few professionals, she's on a path to better managing her anxiety.

In hindsight, one thing Tam thinks was a huge factor in her anxiety was the loss of control; as many parents can attest to… you can't control babies' behaviour! And that was tough for Tamara to grapple with. In addition, the constant worrying and anxiety around Jock's welfare and health, which played out in quite negative intrusive thoughts, proved quite difficult.

But between the tough times there were of course the silver linings of overwhelming love and little 'heart explosions'! The Covid Lockdown has been a blessing in disguise for getting Jock into a good routine, and more family time with Tam's partner working from home.

Tamara has been very pleasantly surprised by her resilience through such a transformative journey, and feels so grateful for the little guy Jock (aka her partners Mini me!)

Join me for this raw and vulnerable story, with huge thanks to Tamara for opening up about her struggles! And remember you are not alone; it's OK to not be OK. We're in this together and Mumma, YOU got this!

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For support with maternal mental health & wellbeing: https://healthyfamilies.beyondblue.org.au/pregnancy-and-new-parents/maternal-mental-health-and-wellbeing

DISCLAIMER:

Please note this podcast depicts personal accounts of pregnancy, birth and motherhood. The views expressed are my own and are those of my guests, as such should not be relied upon for educational or medical advice purposes. The content included is not a substitute for health advice by a professional. 

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