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3rd July 2023
03:16pm BST
A heartbroken dad lost his wife nine days after she gave birth to twins.
Ariana Sutton had experienced postpartum depression (PPD) after welcoming her first child - Melody Ki Sutton, now four - with husband Tyler, but the police officer from Massachusetts, was cautiously optimistic this time around.
Tyler was "nervous", but "being a mother" was Ariana's "favourite thing in the world", so he thought that if he"stayed vigilant everything would be ok", he told Today.com.
But it wasn't.
Despite seeing a psychologist weekly and having a plan in place, the 36-year-old took her life less than two weeks after Everly and Rowan were born, several weeks premature, on May 22.
A GoFundMe has since been set up to support the family and almost £300,000 has been raised.
The appeal notes that Ariana was "a vibrant and devoted mother" and was "eagerly awaiting the arrival of her twins, Everly Irene Sutton and Rowan Stephen Sutton".
"Unfortunately, their early arrival brought unforeseen challenges, placing an immense strain on Ariana's mental health," the fundraising page reads.
"Despite her relentless efforts to seek help, the burden of postpartum depression became too much to bear. Our hearts break for Ariana, her babies, and the Sutton family, as they now face the unimaginable task of moving forward without her."
The fundraiser aims to "ease the Sutton family's financial burdens" in this "time of darkness".
Tyler recalled: “We were both so excited to be having twins. I can’t even begin to describe how happy she was,."
He continued: “There were no signs that anything was wrong. You’d never have a clue. She was always joking about her swollen ankles and how she couldn’t wait to drink a big cup of coffee.
“I never dreamed this could happen. It came on so rapidly, and so suddenly."
Tyler said he couldn't get through to his partner when the two newborns were taken to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
“She started talking about how she wanted them back in her belly. I was like, ‘Honey, they’re going to be fine. They came early, but they’re healthy and they’ve got a great team of people watching them around the clock,’" Tyler said.
"But I couldn’t get through to her. No one could get through to her."
Tyler is now urging people to look out for the signs of PPD, as Ariana had with their first born.
He remembers Ariana developing a "borderline obsessive" nature, in her case, about cleanliness and the family’s water supply.
"She was concerned there were bad things in our tap water, and would call the water department in town to discuss it with them — and even after she was assured that everything was fine, she couldn’t drop it," Tyler - who decided to take time off work to look after his wife - said.
"I was thinking, ‘This will give her the opportunity to relax and take care of herself, but it ended up having the opposite effect and made things worse. She was like, ‘My husband is doing my job, and I’m a bad mother.’
“She would lay in bed crying."
Tyler says he remembers a conversation he once had with Ariana in which she described PPD as feeling like a “little person had taken up residence” in her head.
“That little person would drown out all the positive things that people tell her. And it would be screaming at her, ‘You’re a bad mom! You’re not doing your job! This is your fault! Everything’s your fault!’” Tyler says.
“It was as if she couldn’t hear anything else over that voice.”
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