Jemma

Age at interview: 28

Brief Outline:

Jemma has had high blood pressure in all three of her pregnancies, she also has diabetes. In her most recent pregnancy, she developed high blood pressure at 32 weeks and required frequent hospital visits for monitoring, which she found difficult while caring for her children. She was discharged two days after giving birth, but had to be readmitted soon afterwards following a seizure.

Background:

Jemma is a 28-year-old White British woman who lives with her husband and their three children (11, 5 and 11 months old). She works as a care assistant.

More about me...

Jemma experienced high blood pressure in all three of her pregnancies, though she doesn’t remember much about the first one as she was 17 at the time. She also has diabetes. During her most recent pregnancy, she was diagnosed with high blood pressure at around 32 weeks and started on medication. She was asked to attend hospital frequently for assessment, which she found stressful and difficult to manage while caring for her other children. She was monitoring her blood pressure at home, and sometimes didn’t tell her healthcare providers when her readings were high because she knew they would advise her to come in.

Jemma gave birth at 37 weeks to a healthy baby and was discharged two days later. However, she had a seizure on the way home and was readmitted to hospital for another two days. Looking back, she feels she was never given a clear explanation of why this happened or what it meant for her future health. Despite experiencing hypertensive disorders in all three pregnancies, she says no one discussed the long-term risk of cardiovascular disease with her. She wishes she had known more about the condition and its implications.

Jemma was determined to breastfeed her third baby after formula feeding her first two children. She found breastfeeding difficult at first and received little support from maternity staff. She persevered though, and with help from her mother, was able to overcome initial challenges, however, she had to stop after four months because she was prescribed a diabetes medication that was incompatible with breastfeeding.

Jemma developed postnatal depression and was started on antidepressants. She also tried counselling but did not find it helpful, explaining that she struggled to connect with someone she knew was simply doing their job. She is open to other forms of support, however, including green prescribing, which involves guided activities in nature. She felt this would suit her well because she enjoys being outdoors and would give her the opportunity to meet and connect with other mothers.

After experiencing complications during pregnancy, Jemma was especially determined to breastfeed her third baby.

So, what was it that made you want to breastfeed this time? I’m just curious.

I don’t really know. I think it’s because I wanted what was best for her. Because I also had strep B. Yeah, so I had strep B and that’s also another reason why she had to come early. And I had to have the... I had to have the course of antibiotics as well. So, I... I just wanted what was best for her ’cause I kinda worried about her health with all the health problems that I had going on, with the diabetes and the high blood pressure and then the protein and... and everything going on, I just sort of felt like she wasn’t gonna be 100 percent healthy. So, I thought breastfeeding’s best, I’ll do that for as long as I can. And... and, yeah, so I... I... that’s... I think that was why.

Jemma had to stop breastfeeding after being prescribed a medication for her diabetes that wasn’t safe to take while breastfeeding.

But then I had to stop when... when she was about... I think she was about four months old, I had to stop because I got prescribed a tablet that I had to take and you can’t take it during breastfeeding. And that was for diabetes, because my diabetes was so bad, that my diabetes nurse, she said, “You’ve got to stop breastfeeding,” and you’ve got to start taking this medication for my diabetes. So, I was a bit gutted because I really wanted to breastfeed up until she was about a year old. And I’m... I’m so gutted that I’m... I’m not breastfeeding. And it actually makes me really sad…  Because obviously it was my first-time breastfeeding, I had such a good connection and it was such a nice bond and nice feeling, and... yeah, and when she was four months, I just... I just had to stop, and I didn’t wanna stop but I had to because of... so... but my health was bad, I guess.

Did the nurse discuss it with anybody like a pharmacist or a doctor about any potential [risks]...?

I don’t think... I don’t think so, no.