Information For Her Australia

It was fantastic to see that there is support for new mums after all and it will come from the federal Labor Government. The new funding commitment means that new mums will have access to support that at the moment is very hard to come by because pre-natal and postnatal depression are not often recognised.

It was great to see that Kevin Rudd’s vision for support will see all pregnant women screened before giving birth and after when the baby is approximately 2 months old.

Knowing that all new mums will have that support is comforting. What will make this package more comforting is to ensure no new mum is discriminated against. All new mums include single women, women who have private cover and women who can’t afford or who don’t have private cover.

This is definitely a plus for the health of new mums and their babies and families. A large number of women do suffer from depression during their pregancy or after the birth and knowing they have the support is great comfort to them and to everyone close to them.

Ok, so Centrelink know that I am pregnant, they should also know how hard it is for pregnant women to find a new job.

Yes, I left my job in QLD to look for work in NSW, with intentions of going back if I failed to find suitable work. That was before I found out about my pregnancy. I did have confidence that with 19 months bar work experience, my RSA and RCG that I was sure to get something.

I decided not to go back to QLD as there are better facilities here in Newcastle and a much better range of friends that are helping me through this.

Not long after notifying Centrelink of my pregnancy, they handed me a job diary to record 10 jobs per fortnight for 6 fortnights. I am now up to fortnight 5 and I have had no luck. Only a couple of times I have been called back in to see the employer but still nothing.

I really don’t think it is fair that most employers won’t employ pregnant women. I do understand however that you are restricted during pregnancy of what you can do and with only four to five months work in you, are you reliable? How many sick days and hospital trips will you be making?

I didn’t fall pregnant for the money; or to stay out of the workforce, it was accidental but why should any of that matter. I am sure that if a woman falls pregnant and has worked a while before that and can still work at that particular place then why can’t we find jobs just as easy.

I understand why pregnancy has made it hard for me to find work but until I am 7 ½ months Centrelink have no idea and I don’t think they really care.

Terrie

We have heard of the baby blues or postnatal / postpartum depression but not many people discuss prenatal depression. Depression in pregnancy is possible and the awareness is growing.

It makes you wonder sometimes why prenatal discussion is not discussed as openly as postpartum depression and from experience, I believe it is because we are or were told that it is just our hormones playing up while we are pregnant.

In the past 6 months I have now heard of two young women who are suffering from prenatal depression and if caught early, it can be treated and help is there. Ladies, girls, if you feel you are suffering from prenatal depression, if you cry at the drop of a hat or for no reason or you are feeling down, then please talk to someone.

Talk to your midwife or your doctor and let them know how you are feeling. Prenatal depression is a silent form of depression that may affect and have an impact on women and their developing baby / fetus.

Some of the symptoms include, feeling emotional, sluggishness, foggy thinking, irritability and in some women, food cravings. Many women will blame the emotional changes on pregnancy hormones as I mentioned before.

I’ve given birth to 6 live babies and lost a baby through miscarriage and for each pregnancy, the emotions were certainly there. My youngest was born almost 20 years ago and no one ever mentioned prenatal depression during that time. Instead I had to live with those emotions and the feelings of depression.

If you feel you need help, please speak to your support person through your pregnancy. Speak to your doctor, obstetrician or midwife. Help is available for you.

BeyondBlue.org is another place to seek the help you need.

Toni Livesey

Looking for work when pregnant

If I had have found out about my pregnancy before I moved from Queensland and a perfectly good job, I probably would have stayed there until later on in the year.

It is very difficult to find work when you are 3 ½ months pregnant.

I moved after having worked 19 months as a bar attendant in QLD, with plenty of confidence that it would be easy to get a job back home in NSW. So far I have been wrong. Perhaps if I wasn’t pregnant, I might have had better luck.

What employer really wants to hire a 23 year old that can only work for four to five months, and have to take days off for doctor visits? Of course there may even be sick days that you can’t escape. You can’t hide the pregnancy from the employer; it gets a bit hard to hide your tummy changing after a few months.

My job network providers along with other people have told me to do just that. Hide it. Don’t tell the employer. They will never know. I have already started to expand around the belly, how will no one know?

What if I don’t say anything and something happens to my unborn child due to a work related accident? What happens if they find out any way? Will I get fired? Will they understand why I said nothing? There are too many questions and too many risks. I don’t know and I don’t want to know because I want to be honest and if employers don’t like that then they are the one’s that are missing out on good people who really want to work.

I still have the option of moving back to QLD and my old job, but the facilities for first born babes are not as readily available as established places and the hospital and care facilities here are much closer and easier for me to get to. And I am sure that my partner wouldn’t want me to move away, not now.

I have a better support group where I live in NSW, which has made things much easier so far.

If only Centrelink or the Government understood the difficulties of finding work whilst being pregnant and knowing that there are not too many employers, no matter what they say, who are willing to employ pregnant women knowing they will only be there for a short time.

Terrie

A program targets women who smoking during pregnancyA lot of women smoke during pregnancy.

The affects of smoking during pregnany not only impact on the mother but also on the unborn baby. Smoking during pregnancy has been reported as causing various health issues and the government has sent up a program which will run over 3 years to help educate women. This program in particular targets indigenous women… More….