My two boys at one week old...
Monday, October 8, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Postpartum Depression
I previously mentioned that I had postpartum depression, but here is a whole post dedicated to it!
Pretty much the night I got home from the hospital I felt that the baby blues started... Of course being tired and having heart palpitations due to the pain killer could make anybody emotional, BUT it was hard to stop crying. After 2 weeks (the typical time they say baby blues last) of having a rough time emotionally, Daniel suggested I go in to the doctor. So I made the appointment (partially because I was having some pain by my armpits as well - but they were pretty much gone by the appointment.)
For two days before my appointment I made a list of symptoms I was experiencing:
* I could cry for any reason or for no reason at all (this is weird for me as I'm not a crier!) Once I started crying it was difficult to stop. I would have a 'crying fit' at least once a day.
*I really didn't care about what I ate, or sometimes even if I ate. This really hit me one day as I could have eaten potato chips all day as the only food I ate. The main problem with this is that I don't really like potato chips!
*I wouldn't always make sure Eric was getting all he needed to eat/drink or that he even got his diaper changed as much as he should have! (Good thing he could tell me he was hungry/thirsty/needed changed!)
*I would get frustrated at so many things. I would also over-react to little things my sons did that wouldn't normally irritate me.
*I had a lack of interest in doing pretty much anything that I enjoy. For example, Daniel and I enjoy doing logic puzzles together (we do them online) and he could work on a whole puzzle while I was sitting next to him (usually feeding a baby) and he'd finish it by himself and I never contributed to helping solve it - and I was right next to him!
*Then I had this feeling of a weight on my chest. It literally felt like I had at least 10-20 lbs pressing down on right in the middle of my chest.
*Images in my head of my baby getting hurt. Not a happy thing!
*Lack of focus (I was more flighty than usual!)
I'm sure there were more things, but these are the ones that I noticed the most!
It is a good thing I promised Daniel to make the appointment... I would have put it off because it was something I honestly didn't want to have to do. It is never easy to admit that you just can't deal with life... So we went to the doctor and I got a prescription for medication. It was funny (at least to us) that the medication the OB likes to try first is the one Daniel had a reaction to - we're talking crazy-dizziness. Luckily I didn't have the same reaction. ;)
I do feel that the medication is working and I can actually function normally. I can still get a little more emotional than normal (crying, anger, frustration) but it is a lot better!
I still haven't gotten around to posting photos of our little one at 1 week, 1 month and now 2 months... I'll get those up as soon as I can. (Hasn't helped that Daniel is working until 7 pretty much every night and some hours on Saturdays!)
Pretty much the night I got home from the hospital I felt that the baby blues started... Of course being tired and having heart palpitations due to the pain killer could make anybody emotional, BUT it was hard to stop crying. After 2 weeks (the typical time they say baby blues last) of having a rough time emotionally, Daniel suggested I go in to the doctor. So I made the appointment (partially because I was having some pain by my armpits as well - but they were pretty much gone by the appointment.)
For two days before my appointment I made a list of symptoms I was experiencing:
* I could cry for any reason or for no reason at all (this is weird for me as I'm not a crier!) Once I started crying it was difficult to stop. I would have a 'crying fit' at least once a day.
*I really didn't care about what I ate, or sometimes even if I ate. This really hit me one day as I could have eaten potato chips all day as the only food I ate. The main problem with this is that I don't really like potato chips!
*I wouldn't always make sure Eric was getting all he needed to eat/drink or that he even got his diaper changed as much as he should have! (Good thing he could tell me he was hungry/thirsty/needed changed!)
*I would get frustrated at so many things. I would also over-react to little things my sons did that wouldn't normally irritate me.
*I had a lack of interest in doing pretty much anything that I enjoy. For example, Daniel and I enjoy doing logic puzzles together (we do them online) and he could work on a whole puzzle while I was sitting next to him (usually feeding a baby) and he'd finish it by himself and I never contributed to helping solve it - and I was right next to him!
*Then I had this feeling of a weight on my chest. It literally felt like I had at least 10-20 lbs pressing down on right in the middle of my chest.
*Images in my head of my baby getting hurt. Not a happy thing!
*Lack of focus (I was more flighty than usual!)
I'm sure there were more things, but these are the ones that I noticed the most!
It is a good thing I promised Daniel to make the appointment... I would have put it off because it was something I honestly didn't want to have to do. It is never easy to admit that you just can't deal with life... So we went to the doctor and I got a prescription for medication. It was funny (at least to us) that the medication the OB likes to try first is the one Daniel had a reaction to - we're talking crazy-dizziness. Luckily I didn't have the same reaction. ;)
I do feel that the medication is working and I can actually function normally. I can still get a little more emotional than normal (crying, anger, frustration) but it is a lot better!
I still haven't gotten around to posting photos of our little one at 1 week, 1 month and now 2 months... I'll get those up as soon as I can. (Hasn't helped that Daniel is working until 7 pretty much every night and some hours on Saturdays!)
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