Baby Blues
Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Thursday, December 04, 2008 7:42 PM
I came across an interesting article today written by a woman who suffered from postpartum depression (PPD). After her experience, the author felt so strongly about that tumultuous time in her life that she now counsels other women through their own PPD.
One interesting part of the post was a chart that distinguishes between three types of “mood disorders” associated with giving birth. The list included symptoms associated with postpartum blues, postpartum depression, and postpartum psychosis (obviously the most severe of the three).
Although our baby is now 16 months old, this chart gave me a lot of food for thought. I realized, as I thought over my struggles during Henry’s first months, that what I had would be considered the “baby blues.” But just the same, it was nice to know I’m not crazy, that what I was experiencing was so normal and typical that there’s a whole chart with categories that fit my symptoms to a tee.
Fortunately for me, when I was in the thick of the anxiety and tears, I had my mother and a few close friends to talk to—women who spoke truth to me and told me this was normal, but who also kept a close eye on me to make sure “normal” didn’t slide into something else. And if it had—well, that would have been normal too. Just a different normal that might need some medication.
If you have recently had a baby and you’re struggling, you are not alone. Look over this list. Figure out where you are. Find someone to talk to. Get on meds, if you need to. You will make it through. Millions of women have.
You can do it.
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