Geneviève

Age at interview: 26

Geneviève was 26 years old at the time of her interview and lives with her two children (aged 2 years and 2 months old) as well as her partner. She was happy to finally become pregnant after trying for several years. Her employer, however, completely changed his attitude towards her as soon as he heard she was pregnant, and she was suddenly treated as if she was one of the worst employees. Then, after some bleeding during her pregnancy, she was put on sick leave. Upon her return to work, she was again treated badly – and was so affected that she would start crying during regular tasks. Her gynaecologist recommended that she stop working. But then she started waking up frequently at night and had nightmares. Her boss continued to reach out to her and tell her she should return to work. She was seen quickly as needed by healthcare professionals throughout this time, and she eventually felt so unwell that she was prescribed anti-depression medication at 32 weeks in her pregnancy. After the delivery, Geneviève continued to feel fragile and had a hard time sleeping, but at the same time, she felt okay and was able to connect with the baby. She wanted to be with the baby all the time then and didn’t want help with the care. Breastfeeding was painful for her, and together with her husband, they decided to switch to feeding her breastmilk to the baby using a bottle. Shortly after this, Geneviève had to increase the dose of her medication and stopped giving breastmilk completely. All these experiences motivated Geneviève to pursue an old dream to set up a therapeutic project to help people like her integrate back into usual patterns of socializing. She established a place where women could meet and talk with each other. Through working on this project, and with her medication and therapy, she feels this has contributed to her getting slowly but surely better.

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More content

• Advice for Women with Perinatal Mental Health Issues – Geneviève (clip 2)
  Geneviève says don't feel guilty or ashamed; you didn't choose this.
• Advice for Women with Perinatal Mental Health Issues – Geneviève
  Geneviève reminds women not to lose themselves in parenting.
• Work, Finances and Mental Health – Geneviève
  Problems at work began right after Geneviève announced her pregnancy, creating stressful situations.
• Managing Personal Challenges with Sleeping and Eating – Geneviève
  Geneviève spent days sleeping on the sofa during her pregnancy and after the baby was born.
• Coping with Feeding – Geneviève
  After increasing her medication dose, Geneviève had to stop breastfeeding; she found bottle feeding much more calming and peaceful in comparison.
• First Symptoms – Geneviève
  Geneviève started experiencing panic attacks and nightmares after her medical leave led to conflicts with her employer.