#maternal-panic

#maternal-panic

"We are really confident we have done what we need to do to really meet the standards we need," said Professor Deirdre Fowler, chief nurse and chief midwife at the trust.

There is a piece of advice given to doctors in moments like this: Check your own pulse. Each person in the room has a role, and we perform it best with steady hands and measured voices.

Dalila's illness had begun about a year earlier. She does not know why she began refusing food, only that she started to see herself differently and could no longer recognise her body as her own.

Sofii Lewis described her experience, stating, "I knew I wasn't safe. But I didn't think I was out of control." This highlights the confusion many face with postpartum psychosis.

While noting women 'were treated with kindness and compassion', a 'requires improvement' rating was given. Inspectors said hospital management 'did not always support staff well-being' and 'were not always visible within the service and were sometimes perceived as unsupportive'. Staff reported they were confident to report incidents, however, were not always assured action would be taken.

I attended A&E multiple times complaining of pain, tachycardia (increased heart rate), sickness - I couldn't keep anything down... but they didn't listen. Angel-Kay Mason fell pregnant with her daughter in June 2022 aged 19. Due to a family history of complex pregnancies, she says she was deemed to be high-risk but says she was not referred to a consultant and did not receive any extra scans.

Parents hold a key that grants access to areas of their child's life that no one else can enter a foundational intimacy. However, more and more people are choosing to sever that bond and throw the key away. It's difficult to quantify how many children have decided to stop speaking to their parents, although some studies point to a steady increase in recent years.

Bronx residents are more likely to experience systemic challenges that impact pregnancy, from living below the poverty line to limited access to healthy food and prenatal education. Yet the most preventable cause of maternal deaths is discrimination during hospital care. The maternal mortality rate is twice as high if the mother is Black, when compared to white moms. Over 71% of mothers who died during childbirth in the Bronx, were Black and Hispanic, according to the 2021 Health Department report.

I just want to talk to whoever has romanticised the idea of being a new mom. When you're in a flurry of diaper changes, following a two-hourly pumping schedule and meticulously cleaning and mixing up bottles while running on less sleep than you've ever had, mommyhood ends up being more of a frenzied checklist of tasks to get done and not enough time snuggling and making babytalk with a babbling infant.

We'd been working together for years to make my medication regimen-treatment for schizoaffective disorder-safe for potential pregnancy. Under her care, I was tapering off an antidepressant known to cause respiratory distress and hypertension in a newborn. I'd been experiencing wild mood swings, even suicidal thoughts. My beloved doctor's eyes were sad. "I'm saying no to a pregnancy, Meg." Even in the moment, I understood her priority as a physician was to keep me safe. Still, part of me hated her.

Being a new mom can be overwhelming, especially when you can't figure out why your baby is crying. There might have already been a time you ask yourself, "Why does my baby cry for no reason?" You must have missed your baby's subtle signs. If you use a video baby monitor , you can spot their cues quickly and take action immediately before crying starts.