Dr Edna Lekgabe has a name for what happens when a woman becomes a mother. She calls it matrescence, basically puberty 2.0: messy, hormonal, profound, and almost completely unnamed.

Edna’s a Melbourne perinatal psychiatrist whom I have so much respect for. We talk about the developmental earthquake none of us are warned about.

I became a mum at 25 with no idea what was happening to me… the brain rewiring, the threat system switching on. We discuss what happens when birth trauma and matrescence collide, why accepting care is so much harder than giving it. We talked about how the same threat system that protects a newborn also sharpens a mother’s boundaries, and get into perimenopause and menopause, and ‘the gold’ Edna says is waiting on the other side. She wants every woman to have a buddy a few steps ahead and behind her, the same way kids get one on their first day of school.

We explore:

• What matrescence is, and why Edna calls it “puberty 2.0” for the brain and body
• The support networks that help mothers to thrive
• What’s waiting on the other side of perimenopause and menopause, and nature’s amazing design

Dr Edna says the real task of matrescence is learning to accept care. I think about the version of me who once whispered “I don’t like this” down the phone to my own mum, and what it would have meant to have a name for it. Whatever quake you’re bracing for, I hope this conversation hands you some of that language too.

About Dr Edna Lekgabe:

Dr Edna Lekgabe is a perinatal and reproductive psychiatrist based in Melbourne, and founder and clinical director of WARM Health Collective, a psychiatrist-led practice in Collingwood supporting people through pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. She also holds a consultant role at The Royal Women’s Hospital and sits on Safer Care Victoria’s Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity.

Connect with Edna:

• Instagram: @drednalekgabe
  
• Website: drednalekgabe.com.au
  
• WARM Health Collective: warmhealthcollective.com.au