14 | Sarah - anxiety, birth trauma, EMDR, IFS, medication, talk therapy

Perinatal Stories Australia

Like many mothers, Sarah from The Pesky Placenta Society struggled to decipher whether her pregnancy symptoms were ‘normal’ or something more sinister. But with a pre-existing chronic illness, Sarah also had to confront her complicated relationship with health anxiety. Unfortunately, the concerns she raised were proven to be more than ‘just anxiety’ when at 35 weeks pregnant, Sarah nearly died from pre-eclampsia - or what she refers to as “her pesky placenta”.

This is a story about the challenges of navigating both mental ill health and physical ill health in pregnancy; about fighting to be believed and to believe yourself; about the trauma that comes with nearly dying during what is supposed to be the happiest time of your life; about the struggles of bonding with your baby when your brain tells you that mothering is a barrier to your healing; and about the power of pre-emptive planning to protect your mental health. Most importantly, it is a story about hope that with the right support, things will get better.

This is Sarah’s story.

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MADE WITH LOVE by Rebecca (host, founder, storyteller) x