This week I share my chat with Annmarie who talks me through her pregnancy and the birth of her son Alex. Annmarie suffered chronic sickness from 7 weeks pregnant feeling increasingly worse as the weeks passed by. It got to a point in her pregnancy that she had to go to the hospital to get things checked over. She had various scans which indicated her baby needed to be brought into the world immediately. Annmarie shares the hours and days that followed, Alex's birth and visiting the NICU for the first time to see her son. She shares how much she feared the future and wanted everything to return to just as it was. Alex underwent life saving surgery which brought about some incredibly tough conversations, conversations no parent should have to by a part of.
A hugely important part of Annmarie's story is her mental health throughout all of this. From the moment Annmarie knew there was potentially something wrong in her pregnancy she felt that shift. She describes in-depth how she felt at the prospect of the future and just how hard it was to imagine the enormity of how life would look with a micro-premie new born. She also discusses the sheer lack of support for her mental health from the hospital.
Annmarie and her family are in a great place now with Alex now a happy, healthy, strong 7 year old boy.
Thank you so much Annmarie!