<p>Part 2 picks up in the glow of birth — that fierce post-birth high, the first feed, the shower, the “we did it” moment — and follows Em into the days and weeks that came next. What begins as ordinary newborn hard quickly tips into something else: fragmented postpartum care, escalating anxiety, pain, no sleep, and a second night on the ward that left her rattled. Back home, the joy kept swinging high, then higher — and then came the crash.</p><br><p>Em walks us through the red flags she can see now: the inability to sleep, hyper-vigilance about Levi leaving her sight, spiraling worries about feeding and weight, and a “banshee night” that ended with an ED visit. From there, we trace a system not built for rural families: a psychiatrist who hadn’t seen postpartum psychosis before, a near-miss separation to a psych ward that can’t take babies, and two midwives who stood in the doorway and said, “You will not separate this mother and child.” A bed opens in the Gold Coast mother–baby unit; medication begins; sleep returns. Then the next hard: being away from home and husband, advocating for breastfeeding on heavy meds, finding trust with new nurses, and choosing discharge earlier than recommended because autonomy mattered.</p><br><p>Em is clear about what helped her recovery — sleep, continuity, a small circle who showed up, and specialist perinatal mental health care — and she names the gaps: no mother–baby units in most regional areas, clunky referrals, short-supply psychology, and how easily women are told to “just get on with it.” She shares the long horizon too: the fog lifting around 10 months, another wobble at 12, and steadier ground by 14 — not the same person, but stronger, surer, and now advocating for body-weight bias reform, choice and control, and continuity of care for rural women.</p><br><p>This episode sits with the messy middle — the fear, the funny, the fragmented memories — and ends with practical signposts: call earlier than you think (PANDA), ask your GP for a perinatal-specific referral (Gidget Foundation, COPE directory), and keep telling your story. Your voice is the change.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
