Postnatal depression
I was recently chatting with a friend of mine about baby blues and postnatal depression. As a child care worker I had seen first hand how debilitating just the baby blues could be let alone dealing with post natal depression. I have worked with mothers with post natal psychosis and mothers who have been hospitalized with depression. I am aware of the monumental challenges these women face.
I have always been quite a happy person but during my second trimester of pregnancy I had a month of feeling incredibly down. I was carrying my very wanted baby but felt fearful and sad about many things – the future for my child, my loss of autonomy, I even woke up at night worrying about what age it was ok to let them go to the park on their own! Everything overwhelmed me and many times I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life. This period in my pregnancy gave me quite a reality check. I realized that regardless of temperament, experience, outlook and age we can all be prone to depression on varying scales. Add into that the changes in hormone levels after birth and the massive workload we face looking after our new baby and the ‘blues’ or full scale depression are almost to be expected.
Whilst talking to my friend I mentioned that I had made a contingency plan with my partner and family just in case I became depressed and we as a new family needed extra support. To some it may seem like tempting fate but to us it seemed like a really logical thing to do. We spend so much time planning and preparing ourselves for the birth of our children and the physical care of them; why not make plans to care for our mental health?
It was just a few little things -
We both did a little reading on post natal depression and made ourselves aware of the triggers.My partner had read up on signs and symptoms to look out for.
Family and friends were in place to cook meals, give us crucial sleep time and general kindness.I had people I trusted to talk honestly about how I felt without judgment (you’d be surprised how hard it can be to find these people – there is nothing more upsetting then being brutally honest about how down you are feeling about your loss of identity, lack of personal space and time, the fact that you haven’t slept more then 3 hours in a row for 2 months and you feel like your breasts have been out more then they’ve been in only to be told not to complain because you have such a lovely baby!)
We made time as a couple.
We were always aware that none of these steps could stop postnatal depression and they may seem like such simple things but we honestly felt better knowing that we were prepared. In the end I had no problems besides extreme exhaustion, a few tears and some crankiness…
And it was lovely getting the home cooked meals!
Emma Anderson
Emma is an Early Childhood Professional, on the South Australian Executive of Early Childhood Australia and mother to Jasper, 10 months.
