pregnancy depressionA columnist from the Daily Mail newspaper in the United Kingdom wrote a nice piece about her antenatal depression, also known as depression during pregnancy.

Since depression during pregnancy is not something I get the chance to write about as much (not that I don’t want to), I wanted to link to it and share some of it here. This is part of how Lucy Taylor described her experience:

“I desperately wanted to feel overjoyed and excited. Probably because I have read too many magazines over the years and looked at too many pictures of pregnant celebrities, I had dreamily imagined that pregnancy would be a nine-month-long bliss-fest.

I had assumed that the moment I conceived I would be strolling around Mothercare, gazing lovingly at all the cute newborn stuff. Instead, what I felt was that my life was coming to an end. I felt as if the woman I’d known for nearly 40 years – the free, independent, risk-taking, fun-loving, adventurous woman – was dying.

Of course, I then felt full of guilt and self-loathing for having such thoughts. I even began to worry that my negative thoughts would cause another miscarriage or some birth defect.

I remember once reading about a pregnant woman who said she felt as if she’d been hijacked; that there was a tiny terrorist wreaking havoc inside her. This rang true for me. But because the pressure to sound upbeat while pregnant is immense, I found it difficult to share these complex feelings.

Although my partner was comforting and supportive, part of me wondered if he thought it was just the raging hormones that were making me so emotional. I didn’t want to keep complaining to him, but I was still secretly struggling.

There were days when I couldn’t stop crying and all I wanted to do was stay in bed.”

For those of you who’ve been through depression during pregnancy, does her description ring true or was it different for you? Please share.

Photo credit: © Bianca de Blok – Fotolia