{"id":6468,"date":"2025-07-18T21:40:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T21:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/6468\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T21:40:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T21:40:19","slug":"i-lost-who-i-was-with-postnatal-depression-bristol-woman-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/6468\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I lost who I was with postnatal depression,’ Bristol woman says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sarah Jones<\/p>\n

BBC News, West of England<\/p>\n

\"FamilyFamily handout<\/p>\n

Four years after the birth of her daughter Rachelle is speaking out to help others<\/p>\n

A mother says the traumatic birth of her baby, followed by several miscarriages, left her feeling isolated, depressed and in a “very dark place”.<\/p>\n

Rachelle, from Pill, near Bristol, was in and out of consciousness during the birth of her daughter Willow four years ago and went on to experience postnatal depression.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old said: “The first couple of months were really, really hard for me. I went through a really dark place. I felt like I’d lost who I was.”<\/p>\n

She is now speaking about her experience to encourage others to “feel liberated to talk about the challenges of motherhood rather than facing it alone”.<\/p>\n

Growing up as part of a “big family” in the Philippines, Rachelle said she had always wanted to have “lots and lots of children”.<\/p>\n

But following the birth of her 11lb (5kg) baby girl, she was left feeling lonely, depressed and “angry at everything and everyone”.<\/p>\n

“All my habits, all my hobbies, all the things that I used to do, I lost because my entire life revolved around this tiny little being that depended on me,” Rachelle said.<\/p>\n

“We grin and bear it and say ‘we’re fine, we’re fine, everything’s fine’, but really [it’s], ‘no, we’re sleep deprived, no, it’s getting to me’.”<\/p>\n

\"FamilyFamily handout<\/p>\n

The baby classes Rachelle joined when Willow was a baby helped her find her “mum tribe”<\/p>\n

What is postnatal depression?<\/p>\n

Postnatal depression is a common problem, affecting more than one in 10 women within a year of giving birth, according to the NHS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Symptoms can include a persistent feeling of sadness, tiredness, a lack of energy, a lack of enjoyment, trouble sleeping or withdrawing from people.<\/p>\n

It is important to get help as soon as possible if you think you might be depressed.<\/p>\n

Although the cause of postnatal depression is not completely clear, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and “having someone you can talk to and turn to for support” can help prevent it.<\/p>\n

\"LittleLittle Movers<\/p>\n

Rachelle now runs her own baby and mum sessions so that other women can find what she found<\/p>\n

When Willow was two, the couple decided to try for a second baby, but after two years of trying and several miscarriages they have stopped for the time being.<\/p>\n

“There are days when I’ve had to drag myself out of bed, you experience so much grief but I kept it all to myself,” she said.<\/p>\n

“No one knew apart from my husband.<\/p>\n

“Women don’t talk about these things out loud, maybe because it’s hard to talk about – guilt and shame plays a lot into it.”<\/p>\n

Four years on, Rachelle said she was “still working” on getting back to feeling like herself again, but the baby and mum sessions she joined when Willow was a baby helped her find her “mum tribe” and meet some of her best friends.<\/p>\n

“It was nice to find other people who related, who I could text at three in the morning going ‘I’m having the worst night ever’,” she said.<\/p>\n

She has now set up her own children’s activity franchise covering North Somerset and South West Bristol.<\/p>\n

“Just as much as it is for babies to move their little bodies, it makes such a difference for women to make new friends and find that womanly support,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sarah Jones BBC News, West of England Family handout Four years after the birth of her daughter Rachelle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-6468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}