<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Marcelle Cooper knew something was wrong when she looked down at her beautiful, giggling, baby and felt absolutely nothing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the years beforehand, Cooper had suffered six miscarriages, endured IVF and all kinds of alternative therapies, as she and husband Steve tried desperately to have a baby.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And then, a year after the couple from North Sydney stopped trying, their "beautiful miracle girl" Skye arrived.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/toolooa-fatal-house-fire-charges-murder-gladstone-queensland-news/bb389c85-26aa-4156-a6f4-e604d7be8634" target="_blank"><strong><span>Woman charged with murder after mother, boys die in house fire</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She was perfectly healthy and thriving," Cooper said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We were in our love bubble, it was so special and she was reaching every milestone effortlessly.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But around the 12-week mark, I came tumbling down, like a brick wall."</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/perinatal-anxiety-depression-gidget-house-opens-at-burleigh-heads-gold-coast-news/1dd0ac54-a3b8-4cc8-bf99-7f62b7802c37" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><blockquote><span>"I was absolutely riddled with fear and dread so deep in my bones that I could barely eat and I couldn't sleep.</span></blockquote></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cooper describes the emotional rollercoaster of having tried for a baby for so long, and then deciding to stop trying, only to then fall pregnant unexpectedly and carry a baby to term, as being completely overwhelming.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You so desperately want answers, but there are none to give," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"There's the hope and the grief and the anxiety and the shame, and that real feeling of failure, and almost desperation of like, 'my body is meant to be able to do this, why can't it?'</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We were broken, we were worn out physically and emotionally, and we sort of came to a place of surrender and acceptance."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The couple then spent a year travelling and rekindling their relationship before Cooper unexpectedly fell pregnant again, but found she was immediately anxious.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Given my history, I pretty much just resigned myself to the fact that I was just gonna wait for (another) miscarriage, essentially.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"And then she actually arrived and she was this perfect baby.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I was like, 'oh my God, I don't know what to do. I can't stuff this up... I've got to do right by her'."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Adding further pressure, Skye was born during the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning the Coopers could not have visits from family.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It was just the two of us battling away, and we had absolutely no idea what we were doing," Cooper said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><blockquote><span>"Around the six-month mark, I really distinctly remember my husband was at work and Skye was on the change table, and she was trying so hard to like babble and giggle and engage with me and I remember looking at her, and it was just nothing there, it was just emptiness.</span></blockquote></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It was just this devastating feeling of 'this poor baby deserves so much more than me as her mum'."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At that point, Cooper knew she needed help and had a telehealth consult with her GP, who referred her to the Gidget Foundation.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/toolooa-fatal-house-fire-charges-murder-gladstone-queensland-news/bb389c85-26aa-4156-a6f4-e604d7be8634" target="_blank"><strong><span>Woman charged with murder after mother, boys die in house fire</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Gidget Foundation Australia is a not-for-profit organisation that supports expectant, new and potential parents who may be experiencing perinatal depression or anxiety with specialist care, including up to 10 bulk-billed, face-to-face, individual psychological counselling sessions for clients referred by their GP with a mental health care plan.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It was just an instant sense of relief," Cooper said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I was so ashamed and felt so guilty and like I was such a failure and I thought I was the only person in the world that ever felt like that."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She began fortnightly consults with a Gidget clinician, via videolink due to the on-going pandemic.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They really grounded me and it never felt overwhelming... it was so self-paced.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"My clinician would give me little micro goals... really focusing on the little wins which felt really good.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I felt like I could share my worries with someone without feeling like I was burdening my loved ones because they felt quite helpless as well."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>According to Gidget Foundation, one-in-five mums and one-in-10 dads will be diagnosed with perinatal depression and anxiety.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We, currently at Gidget Foundation, the largest supplier of services, only support 4.5 per cent of the 100,000 people that get diagnosed (annually)," Gidget Foundation CEO Arabella Gibson said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"So we know that there's roughly 95 per cent of people (who) are either trying to source out a private psychologist, which is rare and hard to find with specialist skills, but also probably going without, so we know that the demand is really significant."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/dezi-freeman-search-taskforce-to-take-over-manhunt-porepunkah-mount-buffalo-victoria-crime-news/0aaecc4d-293a-4d1a-809d-0af5759dc0af" target="_blank"><strong><span>Specialist taskforce to take over search for Dezi Freeman</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Early intervention is critical to changing the trajectory of families experiencing perinatal depression and anxiety, Gibson said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Having a baby, the identity change that brings, the responsibility that brings, the pressures, financially, personally, from a relationship perspective, there's so many changes that we go through, and I think if we can support people through that process, we can save them a lot of heartache.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"So many people will go on for years feeling horrific and terrible and resorting to drugs, alcohol, gambling, whatever, when in fact, if we got in early, got them the support they need, gave them the tools and talked through the issues, we could actually capture a whole lot of heartache within a matter of months and have them back on track again.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I know that probably sounds really simple, but in actual fact, it is that simple, because there is still a stigma around perinatal mental health, because it's meant to be a time of joy but actually it can quite often be incredibly challenging and the weight of bringing a new human into the world can be very heavy."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>There are now 39 Gidget Houses across Australia - including the latest location which opened at Stockland Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast last week.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Gidget Foundation was named after a young mother who took her own life while experiencing postnatal depression.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"(Gidget) had the beautiful marriage and the beautiful home, and the great job and the beautiful friends and everything like that," Cooper said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It doesn't discriminate.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Asking for help isn't a weakness, that's the strength, and that was definitely the scariest and most courageous thing I did.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But it wasn't until I did reach out that everything changed."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Baby Skye is now about to turn five, and will start school next year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She's so caring and she's super sensitive to everyone else's feelings," Cooper said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We look at each other sometimes and we're like, wow, this little human is so lovely."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>Gidget Foundation Australia is not a crisis support service.</span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>Perinatal mental health support is available from the</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.panda.org.au/info-support/pandas-national-perinatal-anxiety-depression-helpline" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>PANDA National Helpline</span></strong></a><span> </span><strong><span>on 1300 726 306.</span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>The</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://rednose.org.au/grief-and-loss-support/overview/" rel="" target="_blank" title="Red Nose Grief and Loss Support Line"><strong><span>Red Nose Grief and Loss Support Line</span></strong></a><span> </span><strong><span>is available 24/7 for anyone affected by the loss of a pregnancy, stillbirth or death of a baby or child on 1300 308 307.</span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>Readers seeking support can contact</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.lifeline.org.au/" rel="" target="" title="Lifeline"><strong><span>Lifeline</span></strong></a><span> </span><strong><span>on 13 11 14 or</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.beyondblue.org.au/" rel="" target="" title="Beyond Blue"><strong><span>Beyond Blue</span></strong></a><span> </span><strong><span>on 1300 22 4636. In an emergency, dial Triple Zero (000).</span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Apple App Store</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>and</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Google Play</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>.</span></em></strong></div></div>