My name is Anke Velstra and I am married to Jeroen and since 2010 the mother of a beautiful daughter. That was not without a struggle.
No pink cloud
I was introduced with more than 37 weeks because I had pre-eclampsia. The introduction exceeded many of my personal limits. I had never felt so much pain in my life and never felt so helpless and powerless.
In the six weeks that followed, I ended up 3 times in the hospital and in the operating room due to placental residues, bleeding and a womb infection.
That pink cloud that everyone was talking about was really far away from me.
Physically recovering (and those feelings …)
My physical recovery lasted more than a year. Everything that had happened also affected the love I felt for my daughter. Sometimes I was even overwhelmed by anger and then I looked at that little, helpless girl and then I felt very guilty again. I knew with my head that she couldn’t help it, but why did I feel that way?
I suppressed all those feelings and emotions. Life went on, right? And not to have to feel, I worked hard. Extremely hard. Until the bomb burst in September 2014 and I was no longer able to. I ended up in a burn-out and all pent-up feelings and emotions of the birth and the period after that came to the surface with a bang.
A long period of recovery began. A period in which I was assisted by professional care providers and in which I worked on my own personal development. Only then could I see which deep traces the birth and everything that happened afterwards had left behind. And how that had influenced my life and the relationship with my husband and daughter.
Your darling is where you fall
During this period I learned a lot about myself and about life and wanted to do something with my knowledge and experiences. That was an important turning point in my life and the starting point of my development as a professional coach and counselor.
I gave up my job as a primary school director and started my own company Stress-free for the classroom. I responded to my wish to guide teachers who experience too much work pressure towards more peace and relaxation in their job.
I realized that my family is the most important thing in my life. From that moment on, I chose to do only the things that gave me pleasure and energy.
