Hi Jane, I just checked back on this thread again and I really want to answer your questions. No I didn't get help for PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) at the time. Although I kinda knew I wasn't coping, I knew about PND and I knew I wasn't depressed as such. However I wasn't coping with the requirements of daily living. However, I have a wonderful friend who's a bit of a medicine man who helped me to go back and look at the traumatic stuff that I had blanked out and accept it and let it go. And that's where the healing started for me, but I was also quite physically damaged and it wasn't until I did the emotional stuff that my body was able to heal too. It was only several years later when I went back to the doctor (to talk about if it's possible to have a caesarean for future babies) and she said, 'hmmm sounds to me like you had a pretty clear case of PTSD' and I read up on it.
Jane, I was lucky to have the friend who helped me, but if I didn't I think I would have needed to go through some counselling to in order to cope with it. If you suspect any part of your TTC/parenting journey might be overwhelming you emotionally then it might be worth having a chat to your doctor or getting some counselling yourself. There are some very good services in Adelaide.
I think I'll be better prepared this time round, I can understand what went wrong and I will require my health carers to know and understand this too so they can take better care of me.
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