What happens when bipolar disorder collides with unexpected pregnancy? For Betsi it was a frightening time knowing a bipolar episode can be triggered by pregnancy and that bipolar illness has a genetic component that may be passed down to your child.

And Betsi had already endured several hospitalizations in her early adulthood. She also was under the care of a doctor who misdiagnosed her and took her off all psychiatric medications, only to result in an episode that could have been prevented. After finding stability with the right psychiatrist and medication, she and her husband had made peace with not having children. But when she unexpectedly became pregnant after nine years of marriage, Betsi soon found herself in the psychiatric ward, experiencing a break from reality while carrying her child.

The recovery process during pregnancy and her daughter's first year was exhausting, but Betsi discovered unexpected reservoirs of strength. Her small-town Ohio community, supportive husband, and Mennonite church provided crucial stability. Most powerfully, she reveals how confronting her own childhood trauma, growing up with an alcoholic father, has been essential to her healing journey – and her determination to break that cycle for her daughter.

Now stable for thirteen years, Betsi's story challenges simplistic notions about bipolar disorder being purely biological, highlighting how childhood environments can influence brain chemistry and mental health outcomes. Her journey offers hope that with proper treatment, support, and courage to face the past, living well with bipolar disorder – even through unexpected challenges – is absolutely possible.

Music composed and performed by guitarist, JD Cullum

Edited by Brandon Moran

Sponsored by Soar With Tapping