“’I’m worried if I tell you how I’m feeling then you’ll take my daughter away’ I tell my GP. She reassures me that that’s not going to happen, that I’ve done the right thing and that she’s going to get me help.” Anna Ceesay, founder of Motherdom, on anxiety and depression during pregnancy…
Category Archive: Family
Mother-of-four Lou Jones reflects on the early days with her firstborn, postnatal depression after her second baby and the importance of self-care. She shares some tips for new mums who may be feeling a little lost…
As a freelancer with two young kids – and a third on the way – Annie Ridout was finding herself getting through each day but not feeling particularly excited about anything. A trip to the Mill Eco Barn in Norfolk changed all that…
Samantha Valentine first wrote for The Early Hour while in the grips of postnatal depression. Now, a year on, she discusses the difficult journey she’s been on towards a recovery, of sorts….
Mothers-to-be are often advised to keep their pregnancies quiet until around the 12-week scan, when the chances of miscarriage become lower. But Annie Ridout disagrees with this. Here’s why…
Four months after her mother died from breast cancer, Rachel Clarke found out she was expecting her first baby. In this moving piece, Rachel describes how it feels to enter motherhood without your own mother there to guide you…
The Big Issue has launched its annual kids’ competition to design the front cover for its Christmas edition. Designs can take any form – from drawings to paintings to digital art. Ready, steady, create…
When Annie Ridout’s son became very ill, very quickly, she dropped everything to spend five days with him in hospital. Here, she discusses the moment she realised that nothing mattered, except his recovery…
“Never had I contemplated the complete void that you fall into when you hear those words: “I’m sorry guys, there’s no heartbeat”. Writer Sarah Matthews writes about the deep pain of miscarriage…
Charlotte Duckworth was looking for novels that reflected her experience of new motherhood but couldn’t find. So she wrote The Rival. It’s gritty, relatable in parts, shocking and has unbelievable twists. Here, Charlotte explains how she came up with the story…