Postpartum
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ldrosophila
Posts: 7,512 Member
Anyone scared of or has experienced postpartum depression. I'm a bit scared of this because I would become very depressed with PMS sometimes thinking very dark thoughts. My Grandmother's Mother killed her self because of postpartum. I feel pretty happy during my pregnancy, but sometimes feel those dark moods and attribute it to a hormonal drop. What happens when I lose all of those happy feel good pregnancy hormones and I become depressed and irrational. I'm very scared how did you deal with it?
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This pregnancy is happier for me but my last one I was so unhappy all the time I had postpartum delightment! I was so happy to not be pregnant anymore. This time I'm also excited to be unpregnant but not as desperately. I have my daughter who helps make everything happier. And a little more support too. I guess my answer is no, I'm not worried. I'm ready to have both my girls, focus on them & my getting back in my body. I hope you do OK afterwards. Try to think positive & you may get surprised. Just be aware of yourself & seek help if you recognize any negative emotions that you're having a hard time dealing with.0
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Mental illness runs in my family and I suffered PPD after my daughter was born for over a year. I tend to be an anxious person in general, so I do a lot of consistant things to keep it at bay and am hoping for the best this time around. I am very careful with my diet, workout often and get outside as much as possible. I also do hypnosis and make sure I get enough rest. Basically, I am extremely careful to take excellent care of myself. It is not always easy, but it has been worth it in more ways than I can imagine and I hope the streak keeps up. It made me realize that I personally have more control over my emotional statet than I previously thought. This is not the case for everyone of course, but doing these things can only help.
After the baby I plan to do all of these things to the best of my ability and have recruited my husband to make sure that I follow through. He watched me suffer last time and has seen how much these things help, so he will be a huge help for me. I also plan to be more open to accepting and asking help from others, something I have never been really good at. The oddest thing I have considered is placenta encapsulation, but I am not sure we will be able to swing it financially.
Hopefully you found something helpful in all my ramblings. Good luck and try not to worry!0 -
Yes...after I had my son I had PPD. It was more of the typically baby blues and was not as serious as others have had. It did take a few months to get over though. With my daughter, not so much. I was also in a very happy place and not going through the personal turmoil I did when I had my son. I am going to try something different with this next baby though. It is very controversial but maybe you can look into placental encapsulation (google it). Lots of studies have shown that it helps tremendously with PPD and other post-partum issues. It is also completely natural.
editted to add-I have a lady near me that does it for only a few hundred dollars so it isn't that expensive considering the benefits. It is also possible t do it yourself although I am passing on that, lol!0 -
Not gonna lie - I had to Google Placenta Encapsulation.... and I'm not entirely sure I could do that. I'll keep reading on it, but wow. haha. Interesting for sure!
As for PPD - I definitely suffered with my son. He's going to be 2 in September... and sadly, I spent well over half his life angry and depressed. I had issues with breastfeeding - developed mastitis which turned into an abscess that had to be surgically drained, which also turned out to be MRSA. Miserable doesn't even cover it. And that happened when he was only 3 weeks old... so I breastfed on one side only from then until he was 3 months old and I dried up. It was not what I pictured and not what I wanted... add to that the stress of dealing with MRSA in your house!
I didn't realize what it was until shortly after his first birthday... when suddenly all the jokes about me needing anger management came crashing down on me. And I realized I blamed everything going wrong on my poor defenseless baby.
Not fun..
I did not end up seeking treatment or anything like that. I got off of birth control pills to let my body get its hormones back to normal and just watched myself very closely. Never had suicidal type thoughts, but just angry and had some worries about hurting my baby because I couldn't control my anger. Obviously things are much better now... but I did tell my doc when I got pregnant again, so she will help me watch for it as well...0 -
I think the best way you can deal with it is to talk to people around you now before it happens. Tell your Dr you're concerned so she can watch out for you. When I had my 2nd son my Dr called me after I rescheduled 2 appointments, she knew something was wrong. My husband knows what to watch for. I've learned to recognize when I'm in a bad place or headed to a bad place and I ask for help.0
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I'm also a little worried about this! Before I got pregnant I saw a therapist weekly and was very stressed out ALL THE TIME! (although, i'm also in the navy which accounts for most of it ) but now that I'm pregnant i'm very happy, even being alone as my husband is stationed on the other side of the country from me. I'm a little nervous that some of those feelings will come back, so I'm also doing the placenta encapsulation. It's only 150$ from a lady out here so I decided it would be worth a shot. My husband will be out of the navy right before my boy arrives, so i'm really trying to stay positive. I can't imagine having a brand new baby boy and being sad, but I know it's not a choice we make, it just happens!0
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I had problems with breastfeeding last time (undiagnosed tongue tie, baby lost too much weight, readmitted, ended up pumping, breast feeding and bottle feeding all at once...) and a little one who didn't sleep much at night, BUT I didn't suffer at all from depression.
I know who to turn to for help now and I hope I can stay as upbeat this time as last time.0
