Welcome back!
Lauren Hale openly shared her journey through two bouts of Postpartum Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in last week’s episode of The Mommy-Muse Is In: Empowering Your Journey into Motherhood, Unexpected Blessing. She shared some excellent tips for every woman preparing for birth after recovering from a postpartum mood disorder:
Lauren: The first thing that I would tell anybody is to pick up Karen Kleiman’s book, What Am I Thinking? Having a Baby After Postpartum Depression. The second book they need to pick up is Pregnant on Prozac, by Shoshana Bennett. That just came out and she’s actually doing teleclasses on that, at Pampered, Pregger, and Beyond, which everybody should attend. Anybody who is pregnant and on an antidepressant or some sort of medication for psychiatric conditions needs to read this book. She covers a lot of information in it. Of course, Shoshana Bennett knows everything.
Christy: She’s right up there with Karen Kleiman. These women are amazing.
Lauren: The primary thing you really need to focus on after a PMD, when you’re pregnant, is to focus on yourself. Educate those around you about postpartum mood disorders. Share with them what your triggers are, what you need to empower yourself and to make sure you don’t get stressed out. Take care of yourself; make sure you arrange or childcare for the older child after the new baby arrives. That way, you’re not overwhelmed with, “Oh my gosh, now I have two of them. What am I supposed to do?” Arrange little breaks for yourself, here and there.
One tip I love to give expectant parents after a postpartum mood disorder is to stock up on gift certificates for local restaurants. Buy one a week while you’re pregnant. That way, you have all these gift cards, all these meals that you can run out and get or your husband can run out and get. You don’t have to cook, and you’re actually getting out of the house, at no cost to you at that point in time.
What I did with my third pregnancy was I put together a postpartum action plan, which your listeners are more than welcome to contact me for. It included my triggers, my symptoms, and successful and unsuccessful treatments. As we’ve discussed, I had one that was not very successful at all. It also included my doctor, therapist, emergency contact names, and numbers. I also listed on there people with whom my condition could be discussed and people with whom I would rather not have know anything. I also listed helpful websites and resources so that my family members could go to these websites and resources and educate themselves, if they were wondering, “Is she acting normal, is this something I need to be concerned about?”
One of those websites was Karen Kleiman’s http://www.postpartumstress.com/. She has a wonderful section for family and friends. She also has a postpartum pact at her website that couples can print out and go over together.
Christy: That’s right, that is a very good thing I strongly encourage people to take advantage of.
Lauren: Educate yourself about your treatment options. Make sure the doctor you see is on board with what treatment options you know work for you. You don’t want to change your treatment to something that may or may not work for you when you know you have a sure-fire treatment that was successful for you last time around. It may not be successful this time around, depending on what you develop, but if you know there is something that was successful and your doctor is like, “No, I think we’re going to go ahead and try this, no matter what happens,” you probably need to find another doctor.
Christy: Exactly, all of these tips focus on doing things ahead of time to help alleviate stress after the baby comes. This way you have an action plan that your family, your friends, your doctor, and all the healthcare workers you are working with know about, so everyone is on board. The support network is already set up to make it as smooth of a transition as possible.
For additional information on postpartum mood disorders (and conditions that mimic them), be sure to read Postpartum Mood Disorders: Are You Crazy or Normal? and Under Cover: What’s Masquerading as Postpartum Depression?
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I suffered severe PPD after both my boys, I had to seek help with medication and therapy. But with the second I was much more aware of the triggers and the self talk I could use to calm my thoughts down. But, at the time when I had no idea how to deal it was terrifying. As a single mother the stress was so high and the support so in between I just thought I was crazy. It is so comforting to hear other moms discuss this issue. The more its out in the open the more the darkness and fear go away! Thanks!
You said this so well! You’re right – the more it’s out in the open, the more the darkness and fear go away. Thanks for sharing your journey with us!
Wow. I really like the idea about buying restaurant gift certificates to use after the baby is born, and creating an action plan. This is a really serious issue, it’s great to see it addressed with some constructive suggestions.