Just when she thought the debilitating anxiety of her pregnancy was behind her, Natalie found herself pushed to the brink by insomnia. What began as ten sleepless nights quickly unravelled into terrifying hallucinations and inescapable panic that she would never be able to sleep again.

In this raw and deeply moving episode, we sit with Natalie for part two of her story as she reveals the emotional toll of sleep deprivation and divulges one of the most vulnerable moments of her life: the unexpected mental health crisis she faced in early postpartum.

With heart-wrenching honesty, Natalie recounts the moment she asked her husband to leave the room so she could confide in the Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team (CATT) about her hallucination, the bittersweet decision to separate from her newborn baby in the hopes of finally getting some sleep, the desperation she felt when her prescribed sleeping medication did not work and the unwavering support of her family as they witnessed the darkest hours of her crisis in the emergency room and the acute mental health ward.

This is not just a story of survival. It's a story about the profound difference that compassionate care can make, about the urgent need for better access to mother-and-baby mental health services, and about the importance of breaking the silence around perinatal mental illness. Above all, it’s a reminder that in our darkest moments, being held - both physically and emotionally - can be a lifeline.

Whether you’re a parent, partner, healthcare provider, or simply someone who cares, Natalie’s story will stay with you for a long time and show you that there is help, there is hope.

Please note, this episode discusses suicidal ideation. Go gently.

After experiencing birth trauma and the isolation of becoming a first-time mother during the pandemic, Laura was both excited and determined that her next pregnancy, birth, and postpartum was going to be different. The experience with her daughter, Millie, was going to be her ‘redo’.

Unfortunately for Laura, re-experiencing fetal growth restriction (IUGR) and a precipitous labour broke her. Flashbacks, insomnia, panic attacks, and depression immediately hijacked her second postpartum and left her feeling more hopeless and alone than ever before - an undoing, rather than a redoing.

As Millie turns one, Laura and I sit down to reflect on the year that was: the pervasive way that birth trauma impacts our parenting, the incredible and not-so-incredible supports that Laura was able to lean on, the challenges of navigating a mental health system that’s not neatly designed to accommodate the logistics of parenting an older child, and the moments Laura can now enjoy with her daughter thanks to the help she did receive.

This is Laura’s story - a story about reflection and rebuilding - and it isn’t one to miss.