01/21/2025
BABY BLUES / POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION
If you’ve ever asked a new mom “how are you?” it’s very likely you got a response that resembled “good, or I’m tired but it’s great, or it’s hard but he/she is worth it” etc. Those are often the responses I got when asking friends or family prior to having a child myself.
After having my baby in November 2024, I thought for sure something must be wrong because what I was experiencing was far from “good”. As I very nervously opened up about my reality, I learned that many of my friends, family, and other new moms experienced the same thing and more. In more instances than not, mothers/myself shared experiencing…
- intense anxiety, often as evening approached
- Fear of their partner returning to work
- Disassociation
- Feeling of impending doom
- Uncontrollable emotions
- Crying spells
- Overwhelm
- Lack of joy/spark
- No connection to baby
While every experience as a new mom is different, I share this personal story with you in hopes that it helps new moms who are struggling and not understanding why things aren’t ’great’. Do yourself a favour and reach out to a friend, family member, join a new moms group, etc., for support. Even as a counsellor, I struggled to navigate the first few weeks and was scared I was getting postpartum depression. The photo you see above might seem innocent or cute, but I know that girl (a week PP) was crying multiple times per day, sometimes for an hour at a time, and could barely stomach food from the intense pit in her stomach that just got worse as the day went on.
The saying “it takes a village” means so much more to me now than it did before I became a mom. It’s not just about having a village to help change diapers, but to build a community of people to support you mentally and physically, and share experiences, as well as tips and tricks, as you navigate what might be (what I consider to be) the most challenging thing ever, newborns/babies.
