When I walked through the doors of the Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) at St John of God Burwood Hospital I was in crisis. Profoundly affected by depression and anxiety since the birth of my first child, I’d spent the last two months frozen by fear.
There were days where I struggled to get out of bed, and when I did it was sometimes just to crawl into a walk-in wardrobe and huddle in the corner, hiding from my newborn son. This had never happened to me before and I’d certainly never been admitted to a psychiatric hospital before.
However, my psychiatrist, Dr Tam Luu, admitted me to the MBU because she wanted me to be able to recover while also learning how to be around my son. I was welcomed by the dozen-odd mothers there, the nurses and even the cleaner (she was lovely!).
The three week admission there didn’t solve my problems, but it picked me up and put me on the path I needed to take to solve them myself. By spending three weeks with my son one-on-one I was able to confront my fears in a supported environment. The group classes helped me hear that there were other people struggling with the same feelings of self-loathing and inadequacy. I even ran into a father who told me he wished he was in my place because there was so little support for men struggling with becoming parents.
I can’t thank the staff at St John of God Burwood Hospital enough for the care and support they provided me and my boy!
