Raising Awareness of Antenatal Depression | My Journey to Recovery

“I went into pregnancy expecting it to be amazing, as it’s usually made out to be, but a few days after the positive test I was hit with debilitating antenatal depression.

Everyone was expecting me to act excited, but I was scared, lonely, full of regret, guilty and completely ashamed that I was feeling borderline suicidal about a life event that we had both wanted and had actively made happen.

It was nine months of absolute hell.

I felt angry at society for not setting me up for it… where was this magical time I was supposed to be having?

I wasn’t aware that depression during pregnancy was even a thing beforehand!

I made it through the depression and am now loving being a mum, but still feel this anger at the lack of awareness of antenatal depression out there (so much so that I’m in the process of self publishing a book on it).

Society needs to recognise that pregnancy is not magical for us all and maternal mental health issues are real.” – @_stephaniekate_