204 | Fran PANDA, caesarean birth, PPH, DMER, mental health, PPD, antenatal anxiety

In honour of Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia (PANDA) Week, I chat to Fran of Franjos Kitchen who shares the intricacies of her mental health and motherhood journey. She admits that it took two births and a miscarriage for her to see the very distinct connection between her hormones and her brain. She recalls the depths of her despair with unflinching honesty and talks in detail about the thoughts she was having and the way she was feeling. She fell into a dark place after her miscarriage and consequently sought professional help from a psychologist and a psychiatrist and was subsequently diagnosed with bipolar-vulnerability to hormones.

She experienced antenatal depression during the first trimester of her first pregnancy. She was physically and mentally unwell, so much so that she was sobbing in the shower and wishing for the pregnancy to end. However, a week later, as she headed into the second trimester, she felt like a different person.

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