Motherhood is a seismic event. It rumbles through one’s entire existence, and leaves the whole landscape of life forever changed. This is a wonderful thing, but it is also terrifying – particularly for a person with an undiagnosed emotional instability.

I had married T-Shirt Guy in a beautiful civil ceremony, performed at a public gardens in Lamberhurst, Kent. We had been together for five years at that point, and he had proposed to me on the shores of Bassenthwaite Lake in Cumbria – after attending the wedding of a loved one. Our own nuptials were a large, relaxed affair - attended by family and friends - and it was a fantastic precursor to a magical honeymoon in Florence, Italy.

We decided to try for a baby soon after our wedding day, as family history suggested it might tak...

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