So I am the heaviest I have ever been.

So there i was. So I got on the scales last night (silly mistake) and realised my weight is continuing to go up. Years ago this would have really got to me. It would have affected me more than I would like to admit. As a young girl I had some issues with food and my appearance. But I was so young I didn’t really know what was going on in my own head. It took me years to get past it and even now I still think about food and what I’m eating quite a bit. More than I want to think about it.

However there is a big difference from then and now. Before it dominated me, it was too big a part of my life when I was very young and took away some of my childhood at times. But now when a thought pops into my head I can challenge it back and I think – it doesn’t really matter. It means so much less than it did before. And last night when I walked away from the scales I thought – so what? Least I’m happy!

I did grow a mini human for 9 months. Birth him and now feed him with my body. It’s only be 4 and a half months. It’s okay. I know that now. If your reading this I hope you know that too. Our bodies may never be the same, they might go back to how they were in a flash, or you might change your body to be even stronger than before! But whatever happens, it’s okay.

For me I am going to get back into eating more healthily, I am going to go back to horse riding. But my son will always come first. I’m still learning how to do things one handed and sometimes it’s easier to have a takeaway. I walk every single day but sometimes I’m knackered and haven’t had much sleep so I’ll only walk for 15 minutes. Some of my clothes don’t fit me anymore but I’ve gotten a few new ones and I feel like I’m really finding my sense of style now. It’s okay. It’s all okay.

I think we need to be kinder to ourselves. Everybody does these things at their own pace. Whatever, however, if, you choose to get back into shape as long as it’s safe for you and your baby then do it how you want too. I do believe in being healthy, exercise and treating our bodies well to be strong but I also think we should definitely cut ourselves and each other a bit of slack. Growing a baby and being a parent is incredibly hard. Find your feet and give yourself time.

This is the advice I keep telling myself.

Stay tuned peeps.

Love, Kate x

So my first Mother’s Day is approaching.

So here we are. So as my first Mother’s Day approaches I feel so excited and happy. It might be in different way to others though. You see there were times I wondered if I would actually see this day. Now I’m here, so happy to be here, so happy I made it.

When those feelings came of wanting to take my own life I would think of Arthur. I would cry and cry because I thought about everything I was going to miss. How could I leave him? I thought it was the best thing for him. I thought he deserved more than me. But I was devastated, I couldn’t bare to be without him. At the time in very dark moments I was angry at myself for not taking my own life. I thought of myself as a coward, as selfish. It would be better if I wasn’t here but I couldn’t do it because I couldn’t leave Arthur.

Now I look back and see how wrong I was. Mental illness is an illness. You are unwell, just like when you are physically unwell. I wasn’t a coward, I was fighting, fighting to live. Now every single day I am so glad to be here. To hold my beautiful son, to see him smile, to kiss him. Even on the down days I am still happy to be alive. To be here for my son, for my gorgeous partner Jordan, for my wonderful family and beautiful friends. It is so good to be here. They make me want to live. To see the future.

It took me a while to feel like a mother. It took me a while to feel like myself. I was lost. Now, I am first and foremost a mother. Arthur is and always will be my greatest achievement in life. As I look to the future and what I would like to achieve, I do have more dreams but I am so happy my biggest dream has already come true. Being a mother, having a family, a family I hope to one day expand.

So here’s to my first of many, many Mother’s days. A beautiful day to celebrate Mothers. Mothers to be, Mothers who have babies in the sky, Mothers who aren’t always with their babies, Mothers who are fighting to be here. All of them. As a mother every day feels filled with love. Every day I am appreciated and I am so thankful for that. Tomorrow I’m just hoping for a lie in or a nap or two ;).

Whatever your doing, where ever you are I hope you have a wonderful day. I hope although not every day may be wonderful, I hope you find something wonderful in every day. Here’s to every single day of being a mother – every day a day of incredible love.

Stay tuned peeps.

Love, Kate x

So here he is.

So there we were. What I went through was hard for my partner Jordan too. It really tested our relationship. Becoming parents for the first time is hard enough, going through a mental health illness at the same time, everything becomes even harder.

Jord explained how he felt sad to see me go through PND. But mainly he was angry. He was angry because he didn’t get to have the same experience that most first time Dads do. He had to visit me and Arthur, he spent a lot of time and money on travelling to see us when we should of been at home with him. We should of been doing all the firsts together. Seeing all of the firsts together. Instead he was going home alone every night.

I knew he was angry and part of me wanted him to scream and shout at me (he never did). I guess I wanted him to get it out, to let go of the anger. But looking back I don’t think it would of done us much good. Jord never fully understood but he was always there. He tried to understand but I don’t think anyone ever really can unless they’ve been through it themselves. We cried together, we laughed and had genuine happy moments. We also had moments that will always be in my mind, so sad and final, me talking about not wanting to live and almost saying goodbye. But Jord always fought for me. He would tell me he wasn’t going to let me go, and he never did.

Despite being angry, hurt and sad because the situation he knew it wasn’t my fault. He said he never felt completely comfortable coming to see us. He wanted us at home so we could feel at home, so we could be together. I will always feel guilty for putting Jord through PND, for taking Arthur away from him. Although I know it wasn’t my fault too, the guilt is always there. I don’t think it will ever go away. Neither will the terrified feeling that this may happen to me again when we have another child. But I’ve learnt to take each day as it comes. I’m trying not to look back, not to look much ahead but to just be where I am right now.

Jord has explained to me it was really hard for him but deep down he knew I was in the right place. He knew I had to be there, he knew I needed help. Through it all, we made it. I believe it as made us stronger than ever. Despite that I still wish every single day I never went through what I did, and I never put my family, Jord and my friends through what I did. But it happened. We can’t change the past. Now we’re a happy family of three, our biggest battle is who’s going to change the explosive nappy. Most of the time anyway. If your going through something remember, it’s not your fault. Those who love you, partners, friends and family, there will be there for you.

Stay tuned peeps.

Love, Kate x

So I guess the world is a bit backwards.

So here I am. After I began telling my story I started to receive so many messages from other people telling me about their journey. I feel like in some ways I was very lucky with my story. I got the help I needed quickly, I still receive support now and almost every single person I met has wanted to help me and been kind to me. However I know that this is not everybody’s experience. People have spoken to me and explained how they were too afraid to speak out, how they were worried that nobody would understand, that there was no point in receiving help because it wouldn’t make any difference. This makes me feel so sad. This is 2018. Why are we still living in a world where people are too afraid to explain how they feel? Too afraid to ask for help because they don’t think they will receive it.

It does not make sense that this is still happening. It doesn’t make sense that you can only be in crisis Monday to Friday 9-5. What about at 3 in the morning on a Sunday when you can’t sleep, your crying because your thinking about taking a knife from the kitchen and hurting yourself? It doesn’t make sense. I have heard many people have bad experiences. People who have had a 3 minute phone call when they have reached out because they are attempting to take their life. People who have been told by their GP that they have received all the help they can have and there is nothing more that can be done for them. Right because when you have mental health illness it’s usually for a really short time, your fixed in no time and you never need anymore support…erm…yeah, no it’s not like that at all.

I’m writing this post to say no matter how many times you feel like nobody wants to help you, or they will judge you or you don’t deserve help, YOU DO. There will always be professionals who will go above and beyond to help you. I know this because I’ve seen it, I have experienced it. I know it is easy for me to say because I had a positive experience but please don’t give up on yourself. When I first become unwell when I walked into A&E and the receptionist asked me what’s the problem today, I looked at her and said – I want to kill myself. I then went into A&E and assured them I could not go home, if I did I would kill myself. They didn’t let me go. I was there for 24 hours, you are only suppose to be in A&E for 4 hours, unless of course somebody is to unwell to be transferred. The point is, I was terrified but I was adamant that I needed help. That help saved my life. Please know their will be somebody out there who will help save your life. Whether it’s a whole team or one individual, reach out. Call your GP, call the out of hours GP. Speak to charities like Mind or Samaritans. Speak to your health visitor, your midwife, the community mental health team and if you are in immediate danger, go to A&E. It is an emergency and you are NOT wasting anybody’s time.

Remember if you feel unsafe, tell someone, anyone. You will get help. Go somewhere where you won’t be alone, be with family or friends.

Times are changing, but we still have a long way too go. I know if I help one person in the world I will have achieved something good. Stay tuned peeps.

Love, Kate x

So always trust your instincts.

So there we were. Arthur went through a lot at the beginning of his life. He had rotavirus, norovirus twice and bronchiolitis leading to a hospital admission. Every time he got ill my anxiety would go through the roof and I would often feel very low in mood. I feel like we battled a lot and if we hadn’t of faced everything that we did we might have got home sooner and I might have been in recovery sooner. But what matters is that we’re here now. But for now let me tell you why I think we should always trust our instincts…

I remember when Arthur first got rotavirus. He was pooing every hour. I knew straight away something wasn’t right. He pooed about 3-4 times in the day and maybe once or twice in the evening but the first day he just could not stop. I remember telling them on the unit and they suggested they would have a look next time he went. So they looked and said it looked really normal for a breastfeed baby. They said how often babies could poo once a week one week and then several times a day the next week. Something still didn’t feel right but we carried on. He seemed well in himself and was still feeding, nothing else was out of the ordinary. The next day, the pooping seemed to of died down a little, however a member of staff asked if they could take a poo sample next time which of course I agreed too. They said they just wanted to check. Then somebody else said they didn’t need too. So they didn’t.

A couple of days passed and he was still pooing more than usual and I flagged it up again, my gut instinct was telling me something wasn’t quite right and I became very worried that he would become dehydrated and start loosing weight. Eventually they approached me and took a poo sample which I happily gave, the next day it came back as positive for rotavirus and Arthur had to be put in isolation. When you suffer from anxiety I think at times it can be hard to see what is a real worry and what is not. I know sometimes it can manifest itself convincing you there is something wrong when there isn’t. But I think we should always trust our instincts. Whether your a parent or not.

Unfortunately Arthur became quite unwell with rotavirus and began vomiting and not wanting to feed much. I remember I started to cry late one night and couldn’t sleep because he kept vomiting. I was convinced he was going to choke whilst he was sleeping. I felt like I had to watch him all night which I know was not rational but at that time I couldn’t think rationally. Immediately I thought of the worst case scenario and was convinced I was going to lose him. It was a horrible time and I had to do a lot of talking through it. That’s what anxiety does, it creates a tornado inside your head, it’s exhausting.

Thankfully we got through it. Our next big battle was bronchiolitis. Watching you baby struggle to breathe is the hardest, most horrible thing. Breathing is something we all do, for most of us it’s not hard, it’s easy. When your tiny baby is using all their strength and muscles just to breathe, words can’t describe it. Arthur started with a cold and the cough gradually got worse. Then he started to struggle to breathe, he was really working hard with every breath. I told them I was concerned and we went to A&E. His respiratory rate and his pulse was up and you could see how hard he was working to breathe. They diagnosed him with Bronchiolitis but said because his oxygen levels were okay and he was still feeding we could go back to the unit but we could return if we were concerned again.

I will never forget what happened next. When we got back to the unit he was exhausted, we put him to sleep and me and Jord both closed our eyes too. Arthur was making a lot of noise when he was breathing but suddenly it went quiet. Me and Jord both realised at the same time, we looked at each other and both jumped up, we rushed over to him, Jord put his hand on Arthur and he gasped and starting breathing again. That moment will always haunt me. Words cannot describe how scared we both were. I barely slept that night, constantly watching him, terrified it would happen again, thankfully it didn’t.

Arthur did however continue to get worse. He didn’t want to feed, he was fighting really hard and I knew people thought it was my anxiety that was making the situation seem worse that what it was. However I decided we needed to back to hospital, this was the third time. When we got there, Arthur’s respiratory rate was high, his pulse was 190-200, and his oxygen level was 84%. They gave him oxygen and it gradually went up to around 92%. We would have to stay in hospital. I was relieved that they were finally doing something because all that time I felt hopeless just watching him struggle, but I was also heartbroken that he was in this situation in the first place.

All the things he has faced he has fought so hard. But I remember feeling so angry. I felt like I was being punished for something. My little boy, who had barely been in the world had already faced so much that he shouldn’t have and I didn’t I understand why?! It didn’t seem fair. I blamed myself. Part of me still does. But I know now that young babies do get ill. Their little immune systems are still growing. I remember looking at him in his massive cot in the hospital just wishing that he didn’t have to go through anything else. I would have done anything to take his place. For the first two days I didn’t even hold him, he had no physical strength left and he would just lie in his cot, tilted upright to feed and then he would just fall straight back to sleep. It was heartbreaking. But once again I was in awe of how strong he was. How brave he was.

When he was discharged from hospital we were so happy. He was so much better. However as the evening went on I became more and more anxious. I realised we went in the hospital with all the nurses and doctors. There wasn’t the equipment we needed there if something went wrong. It came to the night time and I couldn’t put him down. Convinced he was going to stop breathing if I did, I explained I was never putting him down. Something that was impossible but I just couldn’t face it. I was crying and so scared that I couldn’t think rationally. My anxiety was rearing it’s ugly head once again. It was consuming me. With the help of the staff and Jord I managed to calm down. It took time but eventually I put Arthur down. Day by day he improved and got through it.

My anxiety heightened moments of these bad situations. But I knew something wasn’t right with our boy. I knew he was going to need a little bit of help to get through this and I am so glad I trusted my instincts with the bronchiolitis and kept going back to hospital. I am a nurse but I’m an adult nurse. I don’t know babies, but I know my son. Trust that you know your babies and children. If your pregnant and worried about telling your midwife something, trust you know your body, and you know your unborn child.

Even if your not a parent or a parent to be, trust yourself, trust your instincts, go with your gut.

Stay tuned for next time peeps.

Love, Kate x