Andrea Gunning

And he supported her as she carried her sister's baby, giving her nightly massages and talking through any challenges in the process.

With Mike by her side, this pregnancy was one of the happiest, healthiest times in her life.

And that all changed after I had the baby.

She'd been with Mike for four years at that point, four great years.

But just after Saskia gave birth to her sister's son, it was like the other shoe dropped.

It began one morning when she had trouble getting out of bed.

It was like I was under quicksand or something.

I wasn't totally conscious.

I couldn't wake up.

I couldn't walk.

I just felt like there were weights on my body and I just needed to sleep many more hours, even though I thought I'd been sleeping all night.

She'd never experienced anything like this before.

And quickly, this feeling became a regular occurrence.

She'd had anxiety and depression her whole life.

But I've never struggled that bad with my mental health.

I've never felt like such trash about myself.

I'd be in a conversation and I'd have to like just get out of there.

Like everything just felt so overwhelming.

I was literally just trying to survive and get to the next day and then the next day and the next day.

She became haunted by insomnia.