E132: They kept sending her home and It almost killed her. — Guest Jayme Serbell
What does maternal mental health actually look like for bereaved mothers? Not the Instagram version.
The real one — with rage, and fear, and loving a child you can barely look at, while grieving another you'll never hold.
Today I'm joined by Jayme Serbell, a writer and memoirist whose journey to parenthood spans five pregnancies, multiple losses including two early miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy that cost her a fallopian tube, a devastating twin pregnancy where she was faced with an impossible medical decision, a postpartum haemorrhage that nearly took her life, and a postpartum rage diagnosis that finally put language to something she'd been carrying alone.
Jayme speaks with extraordinary honesty about the cumulative weight of loss — how grief compounds, how trauma travels into every pregnancy, every birth, every ordinary moment with a child you fought so hard to hold. And how, even after all of it, the healing happens — slowly, on its own timeline.
In this episode we explore:
- How Jayme's second pregnancy connected the dots on an unrecognised first loss — and the disorientation of grieving both at once
- The way trying to conceive after recurrent loss stripped the intimacy out of one of the most intimate acts of her life
- The impossible decision she and her husband faced in her twin pregnancy, and what it meant to carry both boys — one living, one not — until birth
- The postpartum haemorrhage that left her separated from her newborn in the ICU, and how trauma from that birth shaped everything that followed
- What postpartum rage actually looks and feels like — and why the shame around it runs so deep
- How an ectopic misdiagnosis led to the loss of a fallopian tube and an entirely different kind of grief: anger at the system that failed her
- The way her losses compounded inside her postpartum experience — and why bereaved mothers are at higher risk that rarely gets named
- Trusting your body's knowing, firing doctors who dismiss you, and giving past versions of yourself the grace they deserved
Jayme is currently writing a memoir about her journey to parenthood and writes at Jayme Shares Things on Substack.
Connect with Jayme:
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it helps more bereaved mothers find this space.
Connect with Sharna on Instagram: @reproductivelossleadership
Interested in becoming a Pregnancy Loss & Trauma-Informed Specialist? Head to the show notes to find the Certification application.
Please note: Nothing shared in this episode constitutes medical advice. If you need further support, please reach out to your healthcare provider. Be gentle with yourself.
