I'd firstly like to start by thanking Buffy for giving me a minute in this debate, and also thank her for bringing up this very important issue. Deputy Presiding Officer, as with many health conditions, postpartum PTSD is often misdiagnosed. It may not even be reported at all, or just written off as something you'll get over or forget about. We've come a long way in how we talk about and recognise and treat mental health conditions, particularly in this Chamber, and from the second Assembly that I was in until now, we have come an enormous way in talking openly about these things. So, you giving your—. I'm getting emotional myself. You giving your real-life experience, Buffy, is very, very important, and it's us all giving our real-life experiences like this that changes policy. So, we're speaking up for the people that are in silence. 

As someone who—. Sorry, hold on a second. As someone who has experienced a traumatic birth herself, but was lucky enough not to have—. My symptoms after were very mild in postpartum PTSD. I was very lucky to have support straight away, and I talked about it openly, and I was lucky enough to have a partner there, which often concerns me when we talk about all the COVID restrictions about partners not being present at births, and things like that, because that went a long way to supporting all those feelings and that experience that I went through, because I was able to talk about it with someone understanding what I'd been through. But talking about this stuff is so vitally important, so well done. I didn't mean to get upset—I didn't think I'd get upset, but I think I did because you triggered me off, and I'm glad you did show that emotion. It's nothing to be ashamed of, because it's important that we get across the importance of this, and how it affects even people that you don't think it's going to affect. 

So, we need to recognise the approximately 1,000 cases of postpartum PTSD that have occurred in Wales every year as what they are, and treat them and manage them appropriately. Alongside the immediate impacts, even after a hopefully healthy baby is born, there can be a longer term impact too that we may also need to make sure is given the attention it deserves. A traumatic birth, especially a first birth, as Buffy said, may put women off having more children, and may even mean they're physically not able to have more children. If that woman has always dreamt of a large family, this may trigger feelings of grief for the family that they have lost, which will stay with them, and needs appropriate support, too.

So, Deputy Presiding Officer—sorry I've gone over time with my emotions—with the Welsh Government committing to improve the parlous state of mental health provision in Wales, I would urge them to ensure that proper provision is available to women across Wales, as Buffy has outlined, who often suffer with this condition in silence.