A new mum who felt like she turned “schizophrenic overnight” while suffering from postpartum psychosis has revealed the terrifying hallucinations she suffered after giving birth.
After her triplets were born, Charity Horton, 33, thought her wife was plotting with her mother-in-law and intended to poison her throughout the gruesome experience.
After the birth of Raine, Poppy, and River, she was unable to unwind, and after returning home from the hospital, she slept very little for a full week.
Her mental condition deteriorated in the month following the delivery of her babies, and she began to hallucinate, believing she could see through the walls.
Convinced magpies in her garden were a sign of bad luck, she’d chase them out the garden of their home in St Austell, Cornwall.
After a month, brave Charity confessed she was having thoughts about self-harm and was admitted to hospital, where she was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. She spent two weeks receiving inpatient treatment, when she was well enough to go home.
Charity, a CCTV manager, said: “At first I didn’t think there was anything wrong; I just thought I was high on life after having these three beautiful girls.
“Then we got home and I was so frightened of having to look after them. I was sure I was doing it wrong.
“I convinced myself I had to feed them all at once. I couldn’t switch off or sleep at all. It was like I was wired.”
Whenever the babies were quiet she believed they had died, and while they were awake she felt like had to be tending to the newborns.
Charity said: “It just got worse and worse, I just wanted the anxiety to stop.
“Looking back now it seems so scary. I just can’t believe that happened.
“Charity says she’s making up for lost time now she’s better, adding that ‘it’s brilliant being a new mum now”.
She added: ‘At least if my girls go through mental health problems I’ll know how to help.’
In August 2020, Charity underwent artificial insemination using a sperm donor and became pregnant. She and her wife Sarah, an HGV driver, were overjoyed.
The wife utilized a Danish sperm donor, and Charity underwent intrauterine injections due to what she suspected to be polycystic ovaries.
The mums-to-be were delighted when three little ones were spotted on the seven-week scan: each with their own amniotic sack and placenta, on March 24, 2021.
The babes, each weighing four pounds, were born by planned caesarean section after a 34-week uncomplicated pregnancy.
Charity was restless and struggling to sleep, and despite being prescribed antidepressants and sleeping pills she was still exhausted.
She said: “It was like I’d gone schizophrenic over night. Even when I started sleeping I was obsessing over things.
“I kept believing that I was being tried to see if I could handle it. I believed my wife and her mother were keeping an eye on me via the baby monitor to catch any errors.
“I thought they were hiding my medicine so they could drug me to make me stop talking.”
She was terrified by hallucinations, another symptom of postpartum psychosis, and Charity began to injure herself as a result. The anxious mother once attempted to feel the anguish by submerging her foot in scorching water.
Her family didn’t contact mental health support agencies until she vanished and made threats to harm herself, at which point it became obvious what was going on.
“I knew there was something wrong but not what it was,’ she said. “I desperately needed help.”
Charity continued: “I threatened to hurt and then kill myself because I was hoping somebody would realise that I wasn’t me and that I was in this horrible place.
“I just wanted to feel like myself again.”
Thankfully, after a two-week stay in the acute psychiatric unit at Longreach Mental Health and a six-month course of antipsychotic medication, Charity is feeling more like herself.
Charity said: “It’s a medical emergency – if somebody gets it you need to ring an ambulance it’s that bad.
“It’s rare, but be on the look out for your family and friends; just be aware of what can happen.
“One minute you seem fine but the next you don’t know what’s going on.”
