When Leanne Murphy suffered from a traumatic birthing incident her whole life was paused.
Forced to undergo six operations and fitted with an ileostomy bag, Mrs Murphy was left feeling disgusting and ashamed.
“Birth trauma is so taboo. Because you feel so alone, you don’t talk about it,” Mrs Murphy said.
Over the next few years, Mrs Murphy worried about what her children, Connor and Molly thought about her multiple hospital visits.
“I had a very curious and switched on two-year-old. He understood I was going in and out of hospital but he didn’t understand why,” she said.
Mrs Murphy said it was really difficult to reassure Connor at his age that she would come home.
“I was looking for a book, mum’s going to hospital and she’s going to be OK, but there were no books.”
She made a promise to herself that if she made it out, she would write the story.
Mrs Murphy’s children’s book titled ‘When mummy went to hospital’, was written to help her kids understand what was happening.
“Until you’re in the situation – a mum in hospital – you don’t think about how the children are perceiving you being in hospital,” she said.
When Mrs Murphy told Connor and Molly, that she was writing a story that they would illustrate, they were excited to be involved.
“I didn’t tell them what to draw, I said here’s the words for this page and Connor would say I want to draw for this page, Molly would say I want to draw for this page, it was completely organic,” Mrs Murphy said.
“The kids decided they wanted to draw teddy bears instead of humans because ‘humans are too scary mum’. It’s a kids book, if kids are telling me it’ll be better with teddy bears who am I to say no.”
Despite receiving inspiration from her own experiences, Mrs Murphy said she wanted her book to be relatable for anyone entering hospital.
“I would hate for people to think you could only buy this book if you’ve had a birthing trauma.”
Fatima Halloum
