Motherland Australia
Hosted by Stephanie Trethewey. Motherland shares real, raw, and unbelievable stories of motherhood told by women on the land. Each week, a rural mum from somewhere in Australia shares her motherhood journey. You'll hear stories of true grit, resilience, grief, and pure joy. Motherhood is the most life changing and transformative journey a woman can go through, and it's not always easy. No matter where you live or what you do, we're in this together and you're not alone.
Motherland Australia
262: 11 years since becoming a mum, Steph Wanless has finally faced the trauma she tried to forget
Steph Wanless is the founder of FOUND Regional, a magazine in the New England area of NSW, and digital platform REGGIE, that focuses on showcasing the best of regional NSW. While she’s committed to sharing stories from across her region, she has one of her own that deserves to be told. Steph’s birth experience and her motherhood journey didn't exactly go to plan. Both her children were born premature – they were rushed away in incubators before she got to hold them. The first time she saw her son was in a photograph, covered in tubes. She said she lost count of the number of times she watched him stop breathing – and still wakes in the night remembering the machine's alarms beeping, doctors running and the smell of bleach. Fast forward 11 years and Steph and her husband have moved to her hometown of Armidale. They’ve been busy running businesses and their kids are approaching their teen years. But as Ted has gotten older, Steph realised that she’s been pushing down a lot of trauma from all those years ago. 11 years on, Steph has only just been diagnosed with anxiety and PTSD from her early NICU and premmie birth experiences. Steph is super generous with her time and her experience is incredibly eye opening. This is her story.
This conversation touches on PTSD, anxiety and birth trauma. For support:
PANDA: 1300 726 306
birthtrauma.org.au
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