Chapter 7 174 help because she has been dealing with her own mental health issues for her entire life. For her child, however, this perspective changes. "… Like I said earlier: I don’t feel like I would be doing it for myself, it’s really for, for my child. Yes, definitely. Because for myself I think; oh well, I’ll survive, I’ve known that for 38 years, you know. Um, yeah, for your child, you just don’t want that after childbirth, yeah, that seems truly terrible, the bonding and if that doesn’t happen, um, yeah, that." (Participant 3) Seeking pillars of support As illustrated in Theme 2, participants realized that they needed professional help for the mental health impact of UPs and that as a coping mechanism, they actively sought pillars of support. MHPs formed one pillar of support, which positively impacted the pregnancy process. Participants 3 and 4 both described how the help of an MHP is of additional value during their pregnancy, in addition to the help from family, friends and midwives. "I feel heard, which is really great. Besides having your family, it's just really nice to have professional people who, um, think along with you and are willing to do everything they can to help you, and that's special. I feel very supported in that, especially from the midwife who took action so quickly. My doctor was also very prompt." (Participant 3) "So, I feel very like, helped by them [MHPs]. And then if I have stuff that has come up, with mental health. Like I know the midwife maybe isn’t the right person to help me, but I feel like I could contact them […]. Like, they would know how to point me in the right direction." (Participant 4) Women also received support from other pillars of support such as friends (participant 4) or family (participant 7). "We have like one couple of friends who has kids and then there's a couple that lives down the street that we've kind of made friends with who have kids. So, it's nice just having people who also have children." (Participant 4) "[…] well, my father found it very nice, he was very enthusiastic when I called that I, uh, so that's nice. All my girlfriends were, uh, uh, quite supportive and they all found it, well, I also had a friend, you know, who was there when I did my pregnancy test." (Participant 7)
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