Having just watched the harrowing story on the news of Jess, driven to suicide, I felt the need to share my own story.
HG was debilitating for me from the moment I became pregnant. The only time I wasn’t being sick was when I was asleep. I lost a lot of weight and was hospitalised several times throughout my pregnancy. It was one of the worst times of my life – and it’s the reason there’s an eight-year age gap between my two children.
I really didn’t think I could put myself through it again.
I was already on anti-anxiety medication and then began taking anti-sickness medication. But my GP dismissed me and told me to just get on with it. It wasn’t until I changed GP that I was finally prescribed anti-sickness medication.
My mental health suffered. I was signed off for the whole nine months because I simply couldn’t keep anything down. Eventually, I had to leave my job because I was never well enough to go in.
My family, particularly my husband and my mum, were amazing. I honestly couldn’t have got through it without them.
There was just no support for HG back then. It was incredibly lonely and stressful – and I still take anxiety medication to this day. I remember it all so clearly, even though my eldest son is now 25. It still stays with me.
I had to change GP just to be taken seriously. I was hospitalised multiple times. That eight-year age gap between my boys – now 25 and 17 – is all because I truly didn’t think I could survive another pregnancy.
The feeling that it was never going to stop, that I was never going to feel well again, that health professionals were so dismissive… it was exhausting. It was relentless.
Back then, there was no support at all. But I will never forget the moment my baby was born – as soon as he left my body, I felt this utter calmness. For the first time in nine months, the nausea was gone.
Thank you to Dawn for sharing her story with us. Thankfully now as a charity we are able to support where previously there was no charity in existence.
If you would like to help us to continue supporting women and their families through this, you donate to us here.