Posted By: MMHA
1 minute read
But I look back and think a lot of this support could have started much earlier if I’d had access to a mother and baby unit (MBU)… We need an MBU in Northern Ireland, and we need it now!
When my son was born, I started experiencing hallucinations. They weren’t distressing at first, but over the next eight months they became more upsetting.
One morning I woke up and was convinced the baby in the crib wasn’t mine. Everything about him was different. I remember thinking, “Who has given me their child?” I said to my husband, “That’s not our baby. Where is our baby?”
After finding the strength to speak to a doctor, I was assessed by the Home Treatment Team and told I needed to go into hospital. When I was admitted, I was told that no babies were allowed in. This was extremely distressing.
In hospital, I was diagnosed with postnatal depression and disassociation. I now believe I was experiencing postpartum psychosis, but without specialist perinatal mental health services, this wasn’t even mentioned to me.
After I was discharged from hospital, the care of my Home Treatment Team helped me adjust to being at home. A creative writing course has also enabled me to work through my experiences. And bonding therapy helped me to reconnect with my son after everything we’d been through.
But I look back and think a lot of this support could have started much earlier if I’d had access to a mother and baby unit (MBU). I also wouldn’t have been separated from my child and experienced so much anxiety. We need an MBU in Northern Ireland, and we need it now!
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