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.
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.
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.
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.
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