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(Ep. 15) You are stronger than you think with Melanie

 

Melanie is not only one of our incredible volunteers, she is also a mom of two, doula, student-midwife, and ultra-marathon runner (yes, seriously!). In this episode, she shares how having supportive prenatal care helped her avoid PPD/A even though she had a history of depression, infertility, and chronic pain.

In this episode we talk about:

  • How she became so passionate about midwifery care
  • Becoming one of our volunteers and how sad we both are that she is leaving
  • Her experience of depression prior to becoming a parent
  • Struggling with depression as teen
  • Having chronic pain and reproductive health issues and being told she may never have children – and how this resulted in a very deep depression
  • One she finally got pregnant, finding midwifery care
  • How midwifery care was a turning point in her journey and her life and led her to really take charge and control over her mental health
  • The importance of feeling empowered and in control, in birth, and in mental health
  • Building confidence through pregnancy and birth
  • Parallels between labour and birth and parenting – namely, breathing through the hard moments
  • Having a community of care and a community of people around you who can be real about their own experiences
  • The impacts of Covid-19 on life, parenting, and our kids birthday parties
  • How importance it is to normalize the struggle of early parenthood
  • The advantage having a previous experience of depression and how this helped Melanie avoid PPD
  • The work she did prenatally that helped her in the postpartum period
  • Being ok with needing a break and knowing your own limits
  • Finding space for yourself as a person not as a parent (and how hard this was for me!)
  • Not comparing pain and suffering
  • The pressure to be perfect that comes from social media
  • How we are all stronger than we think
  • What she would say to herself when she was struggling the most

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