Mum Rebecca Fisher, 23, says blog is 'lifesaver'
- Published
Rebecca Fisher (pictured with daughters Elsa and Cleo) found out she was pregnant at the same time as her mother - their babies were born 17 days apart
A mother who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after giving birth to her second child said her blog has been her "lifesaver".
Rebecca Fisher, 23, originally launched it shortly after her brother Rory was born with Down's syndrome - 17 days after she had her first child in 2015.
The blogger, from Norfolk, has since won awards and said being a parent in a rural village could be "isolating".
"I don't know what I'd have done without [the blog]," she said.
Rebecca said she felt the need to write about her bad birth experience with her younger daughter Cleo
Mrs Fisher lives in Burnham Market with daughters Elsa, three, and 18-month-old Cleo, and her husband Jonny, 26.
She said The Coastal Mummy had helped her overcome a string of challenges.
Her younger daughter was born by emergency Caesarean section, which led to post-traumatic stress disorder and post-natal depression. It was the blog which helped her through the distressing experience.
"I couldn't speak about it afterwards," she said.
"But if I've got a problem, I will write it down and then it's out of my head. It is like a cleanse.
"If my bad birth experience helps one other person then that helps me."
The Fisher family lives close to the coast in Burnham Market, Norfolk
Mrs Fisher said the area was a magnet for holiday homeowners with neighbouring properties often vacant, leaving the village feeling empty during the week.
She said it had forced her to find a sense of belonging online with the 12,000 followers of her blog and its social media accounts.
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"I would say I have overcome my problems and found people similar to me," said Mrs Fisher.
"There's no-one here to speak to apart from the doctor.
"It can be isolating - it [the blog] has been a lifesaver."
Rebecca on holiday with husband Jonny and their two children
It was also the village's rural nature that prompted her to start writing after her family was shunned by some people when brother Rory, now three, arrived.
He had been a much-wanted fifth baby by Mrs Fisher's mother Jayne Thompson, 44, who revealed her pregnancy at the same time as her daughter.
"I was dreading telling my parents. I called my mum into my room and said 'I think I'm pregnant' and she went 'That's funny, because I think I am too'," said Mrs Fisher, who was at college at the time.
The family were told there was a 20 per cent chance the baby could have Down's syndrome, so they were prepared but soon felt the need to raise awareness after he was born.
Rebecca said she launched The Coastal Mummy blog to help raise awareness of Down's syndrome after her brother Rory was born in 2015
"People either stood by us or stopped speaking to us," said Mrs Fisher, who describes herself as a Down's syndrome advocate.
She said she wanted to challenge a lot of the "myths" about the condition. "I thought I'd get something out there," she said.
Despite having to retake her English GCSE, Mrs Fisher has gone on to win a national Mencap journalism award, external and a local parenting blog title, external.
"I am a completely different person to who I was at school," she said.
"I wonder what my English teacher would say if they saw what I do now."