Over at the Confessions of a First Time Momblog, the writer shares her very compelling experience with postpartum anxiety. You should read the whole thing, but I wanted to highlight one particular part:
"I honestly didn't realize I was suffering from PPD. I thought I was just nuts. When I was discharged from the hospital after having Josiah, the nurse told me that being emotional was normal. She said most women get the "Baby Blues" and not to worry unless I had thoughts of harming my baby. I never had thoughts of harming Josiah so I figured I was just a terrible mother. Not wanting to admit how I was feeling I kept my mouth shut."
AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH! Can you hear me screaming all the way from Georgia?
Don't worry unless you want to harm your child! If you don'tfeel the needto pick upsome sort ofweapon,you're good to go! I'd say you've got 100% mental health! Yay for you! Go get 'em girl!
Newsflash: Not every woman with a postpartum mood or anxiety disorder has thoughts of harming her children.
That'sone uninformed nurse. Yikes.
Note: For information on intrusive thoughts, which are scary or disturbing thoughts you may have in the postpartum period, click here. You might also be interest in my story called "The Endless What-Ifs of Postpartum Anxiety".
Yes, Katherine…can hear you loud & clear all the way from Georgia. Can you hear me scream too? It is SO FRUSTRATING to hear about medical professionals still saying these things and thinking there's the baby blues (considered normal and what the majority of new moms experience) and moms who harm or have thoughts of harming their babies. Ugh. When are all medical professionals who come into contact with new moms going to be properly educated about perinatal mood disorders? Until that happens, we are going to continue hearing about these situations occurring, which doesn't help new moms who really need help and suffer unnecessarily?!
Sorry, meant to say: It is SO FRUSTRATING to hear about medical professionals still saying these things and thinking there's either the baby blues (considered normal and what the majority of new moms experience)or moms who harm or have thoughts of harming their babies…AND NOTHING IN BETWEEN.
That is so scary. If you're going to be dispensing advice why don't you read something about it, even a basic pamphlet would have been more informative then this nurse!
That's just appalling that she is allowed to say those types of things to her patients. There are so many misconceptions and so little education about what the REAL symptoms are – this is one of the reasons why women suffer needlessly. We are sometimes misinformed by the very people we are supposed to look to for guidance and treatment!
It is very sad that in 2009, nurses and others ,make the same kind of irresponsible statements to innocent patients esp. MoM's ! First time Mom;s , need all the information they can get! The private Hospitals in my area Fresno, Calif. mostly welcome my support, but still the County fights my efforts. They do not have to do anything except , recieve a completed and free pamphlet( simple guide with symptoms listed= that should be of concern to all Mom,s) That ,they only have to copy. They continue to route me around and tell me they have no money to support my efforts at this time. Over 15 years! What does it take to copy a pamphlet that is done?
Add to these comments the fact that even if she DID have thoughts of harming her baby, the nurse's comment does NOTHING to educate her about the difference between PP-OCD, where she is NOT likely to harm her child and PPP where she IS a risk of harming her child!
What are the implications of a warning like this when that difference is NOT explained??
Yep, been there. Ridiculous. I asked my RN if I could have a hotline to call because I couldn't stop crying 8 wks after my son was born. She asked if I wanted to hurt him. I said no, so she told me to just read some parenting magazines. I, too, figured that meant there was nothing clinically wrong with me…I was just insane.
Two years later I was diagnosed with Postpartum PTSD and it took three years of therapy to reclaim my life. I sometimes wonder what life would have been like if I'd gotten the help I needed at the start.
Thank you for sharing my story with everyone. I appreciate all the support and love. This is a great website!