Pregnancy made me feel suicidal

EMMA TALKS ABOUT HER HEARTBREAKING DECISION TO END HER PREGNANCY

- SARAH ELMES

A PLYMOUTH woman had to make a heartbreaking decision whether or not she was going to keep her baby after severe pregnancy sickness made her feel suicidal.

Emma Coller, aged 29, was over the moon after finding out she was pregnant. But little did she know this would be the start of a long and traumatic journey for both herself and her husband.

Just a couple of weeks after the positive pregnancy test, Emma fell severely ill. Every day she felt a ‘mixture of severe nausea and vertigo’. She was unable to drink water, and the smell of any food or drink was making her ‘gag’.

After nothing her GP was advising her worked, Emma - at this point suffering debilitating depression from her symptoms - took herself to the emergency department at Derriford Hospital, where a doctor told her she had dry hyperemesis gravidarum. But despite being put on strong medication, her symptoms did not improve. She could not leave her bed, look after herself, or hold a conversation with anyone and began having suicidal thoughts.

It was at this point Emma felt she only had two options: “Either I could take my own life, or I could terminate the baby,” she said.

Emma and her husband discussed the heartbreaking possibility of having an abortion, and decided it was the only option left for them. Now Emma, who wants to adopt in the future, wants to share her story in the hope it may help other women experiencing the same thing.