Introduction

[Hopeflies]

Hey everyone,

This is my first post and just wanted to say hi! I have three children, two girls (12 and 10) and a two week old baby boy, with my new partner. I suffered with PP after the birth of my two daughters, but this time, so far, I have not become unwell. I am here to learn, to share and to offer support to others where I can. x 💗💫💗

[Jenny_at_APP Partner]

Hello Hopeflies,

Welcome to the forum, it's lovely to meet you virtually here

Congratulations on the birth of your son, I'm so glad that everything is well so far. I had PP after my first son was born in 2012 and went on to have another son in 2016 with no recurrence of PP, such a different experience and relief. I'm sorry to hear you suffered twice with your daughters.

Thank you for joining us here and offering your support, it's such a lovely place to share experiences and understanding.

Best wishes,

Jenny x

[Naomi_at_app Volunteer]

Hi Hopeflies

Welcome to the APP community - it's really great to have you here with us! I'm so pleased for you to hear that things are going well after the birth of your baby boy. Did you have good support from a perinatal mental health team for your third pregnancy? How are your older daughters enjoying having a new baby brother? It must be such a relief for you that things feel settled so far.

Thank you so much for joining us here, and for wanting to support others and learn from the experiences shared by so many families across the world here.

Feel free to post any time about your experiences, ask questions or reach out for support.

Warm wishes

Naomi

[Twobabies Volunteer]

Hello! Welcome ! And congratulations on your new baby boy I had ppp in 2018 after having twins. How’s it going? Are you getting support that helps you get sleep? Difficult in early days but so important. Lots of love and best wishes xxx

[RachelK_at_APP Moderator]

Hello hopeflies

Hope you are doing ok, the first few weeks are so tough. Hope young’s w good family support.

I had ppp back in 2016 when I had my daughter and went on to have a son in 2020 with no illness that time.

Even during a lockdown I had daily visits in the first few.weeks.

Take care and enjoy the baby cuddles

RK

[SammySeal]

Hi Hopeflies

Nice to meet you. Congratulations on the arrival of your new little one! Pleased to hear things are going well for you this time round. The early days are a tough time for parents and it can be worrying if you've been unwell in the past.

Good job getting involved with APP, it's a great place to learn and find/give support!

Myself, I have two children similar ages to your eldest two. I was poorly with postnatal depression and some PP after the first baby, but thankfully fine after the second. What I did find though was that I felt anxious keeping an eye out for PP symptoms. What helped was that second time round I was at least prepared, had good support from my husband and also the perinatal mental health team kept a close eye on me.

Have you had good support this time round?

All the best. x

[Teresa_K_S Volunteer]

Hi There Hopeflies,

Wecome to the forum and Congrats on the birth of your little boy.

I like your username Hopeflies. It's important that we can remain hopeful.

I would say I was hopeful to not suffer PP again with my subsequent births and thankfully with lots of support I didn't. However I can echo Sammy Seal in that I never fully let down my guard in and was anxious that PP might be around any corner.

It certainly helped me to put my sleep as top priority and to also be open and connected with family and friends on a daily basis in the early days. I found I would get bored very easily especially with 'baby days' A hard thing to admit because we are supposed to love it if you listen to every other 'perfect' mum. To break boredom I would walk out with friends, go to shops, go for coffees, do baby massage etc anything to get out. I didnt do these things everyday but they would help my mood to do so as often as I could.

I also wasn't too proud to allow people to help in the home. My mum was my constant friend and support. My husband would do more on days I couldn't. My best friend was also always amazing as she would get stuck in without being asked.

I hope you can gather all your support so you may stay well and enjoy your family. Maybe your girls can help with chores? I wish I had trained my children better!

Great that you can post on here your past or present experiences and connect with others.

APP also has cafe meet ups in certain areas and some virtually. So depending where you live these may be of interest to you.

Remember to keep things a little low key in the early days 😉

Wishing you well

Teresa x