No matter how many books you read, nothing really prepares you for the birth of your first child. And that goes for dads, as well as mums.
Wilfred Zee, 31, from Queensland thought he was prepared before the whirlwind arrived.
“We had a natural birth with our first child, Nathan, and didn’t realise anything was wrong until two days later. My wife was trying to get out of bed to go to the toilet but couldn’t move. It was terrible. She’d sustained an injury from pushing and was physically confined to a walker for nearly seven weeks,” he says.
His wife, Janice, needed lots of physio and rehab so that was their focus in the early weeks. It wasn’t until a couple of months later she started snapping. A few months down the track, she showed signs of post-natal depression.
“I’d intended to take off three weeks but work was really supportive and allowed me to take extended time off to look after my wife and son. When I did go back to work Janice would often message me through the day, basically venting, but the messages gradually escalated.
“When it became really out of hand we went to see our GP and arranged to see a psychologist. It was a slow, ongoing process. My work allowed me to work from home one day a week to help. It felt like we were just getting to a point where she could cope when she fell pregnant with our second 19 months after the first.”
It was during this period that things escalated for Wilfred.
Originally published by News.com.au. Continue reading here.