TERRIFIED someone was going to snatch her daughter and crying constantly, she felt she had lost all control of her emotions.
Laura Seddon went through the same hell almost every day for months, not even daring to venture to the shops five minutes away.
She was suffering from postnatal depression, which developed after the birth of her baby girl, Star-Angel, now 23 months.
"I loved her to pieces but I felt everything I did was wrong all the time," says Laura, now 21.
"I used to punish myself for it.
"After I left the hospital, I was scared to go out of the house and I was anxious. It went on for about eight months where I hadn't left the house once without my mum or dad.
"I thought it was normal because I was quite young."
Laura, of east Hull, is one of the estimated one in seven women who experience some level of depression in the first three months after giving birth.
Desperate to enjoy every precious day with her daughter and determined to feel better, she was referred to House of Light in west Hull.
The charity was set up by friends Joanne Morton and Karen Cunningham in 2007 after their own battles with postnatal depression.
They have helped about 1,000 women locally, nationally and internationally, since then.
Laura had one-to-one support sessions, as well as group support, and has never looked back.
"It was quite hard to go because I went on my own, which was a big step for me," she says.
"From how I was when I wouldn't go out of the house to now, coming out and going to the local shops by myself, I'm very proud.
"It's quite a big achievement for me.
"I didn't know anything about postnatal depression and I didn't think it existed until it happened to me."
House of Light provides one-to-one and group support, a helpline, drop-in session, email support and home visits for mums who are struggling less than one month after giving birth.
Julia Sullivan, 30, also suffered postnatal depression following the birth of her daughter, Amélie, now eight months.
"I had a really healthy pregnancy and an easy labour, and it was a nice experience," she says.
"But things started to go a bit downhill and I struggled to breastfeed. I put pressure on myself when I couldn't do it. I felt very emotional and overwhelmed, and I was crying a lot.
"A lot of people said it was post-baby blues. But I struggled for six weeks and I started to feel really foggy.
"I was crying for three to four hours at a time and I knew it wasn't how I was supposed to be feeling."
Julia, of west Hull, began to suffer anxiety, as well as feeling sick and shaky.
She knew she needed extra support and turned to House of Light.
"I remembered hearing an advert for House of Light on the radio years ago and I emailed them," she says. "I was becoming quite scared by how I felt. You put a lot of pressure on yourself as a new mum.
"Speaking to someone who had gone through it, I felt so relieved.
"I wanted to be out of the house, so it was brilliant to be able to go there and be with other mums.
"Although I loved Amélie, I didn't feel happy and I was so sad. It's nice to meet women from all walks of life and it's reassuring.
"If I hadn't come to the drop-in and had one-to-one sessions, I wouldn't have got better."
House of Light, which has a base in Linnaeus Street, has received calls for help from as far afield as Australia, Spain, Turkey and Germany, as well as throughout the UK.
Joanne, 37, was diagnosed with postnatal depression in May 2006 when her son, Joseph, was five months old.
She says she felt suicidal, suffered panic attacks and insomnia, and could not eat or sleep, which later made her determined to help others in the same position.
"There is this misconception postnatal depression is when you don't love or care for your child," says Joanne, who worked as a midwife.
"Mental illness can affect anybody and it's not about how you feel about your child – 99 per cent of women we see are obsessed with their children."
Joanne, of Hessle, told her health visitor how she felt and went to see her GP.
She saw a community psychiatric nurse and had private counselling.
But it was when Karen befriended her through a health visitor she felt she was turning a corner.
"Karen looked really well and she could identify with the things I was experiencing," says Joanne.
"I could see she was well and it gave me hope. We both said something needed to be done about it."
Joanne has taken on running the charity full time and Karen continues to be a trustee.
"Everybody experiences things differently," she says. "I would like to think I went through all that for a reason. I wouldn't change having Joseph for the world.
"A lot of people say they love our service because they don't feel judged.
"You think becoming a parent should be a happy time and it should be. People say 'what have you got to be depressed about?'
"But it's the illness and how it makes you feel. The sooner a mum gets help, the quicker it gets better."
