” I wasn’t eager to see the baby I had long awaited for. I felt the pain had so much to do with my present mood. I felt my husband was at fault too. I felt the doctor was at fault too”

Emobileclinic Health News & Trending Issue:Depression During & After Pregnancy

‘After I gave birth through a cesarean operation after a failed induction of Labour with serious pain and contraction as I was rolled to the operating room, I wasn’t eager to see the baby I had long awaited for. I felt the pain had so much to do with my present mood. I felt my husband was at fault too. I felt the doctor was at fault too and shouldn’t have allowed me go through the pain when they knew I would not had a vagina delivery. It was a double pain for me which could have been avoided medically. I was just out looking for excuse to justify my present state. I couldn’t understand what happened to me.

I couldn’t discuss it with my doctor as I didn’t know if it was normal to feel this way. So I handled my depression myself. When my baby came he was a boy with the weight of 3.8kg.’Madam see your baby’ said the doctor but I refused to want to have anything to do with him. I was very unhappy. I refused to see him or carry him . I refused to breast feed him.

A friend of mine came to see me and the child and she noticed my mood! The doctors that came earlier didn’t notice anything. My friend did! Maybe because she had already given birth! Maybe because she had been in that shoes. One thing she said that made me to see my baby 24 hours after I gave birth to him was ‘see a handsome boy, this boy should have been a girl,na fine boy to the core’ For the first time it dawn on me that I have never seen my baby! With pain I asked to be pulled up and she brought him to me. She asked if he has been breastfed, and I said no. She brought my breast out and said I should have been cleaning my nipples with cotton wool to remove the black stuff at the tip of my breast. Immediately she started cleaning my breast, and it was as if the nipple was covered with that stuff to intentionally hold the milk from not coming out and I was able to snap out of that mood. ”

Depression in pregnancy and after pregnancy is something doctors are not addressing .What about the female nurse? Haven’t they been in that state or read about it if most doctors feel not concerned because they are male; what about the female doctor?

“Ob-gyns thought that if they identify something and don’t have resources to support it, it puts them at significant legal risk,” said Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody, the director of the perinatal psychiatry program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Pediatricians have the added caveat that the mom isn’t really their patient — the child is.” Is this really what is happening everywhere too?

For the first time US is moving the motion for women should be screened for depression during pregnancy and after giving birth. At the government-appointed health panel on Tuesday a recommendation of maternal mental screening was proposed.

‘The recommendation, expected to galvanize many more health providers to provide screening, comes in the wake of new evidence that maternal mental illness is more common than previously thought; that many cases of what has been called postpartum depression actually start during pregnancy; and that if left untreated, these mood disorders can be detrimental to the well-being of children.’

‘It also follows growing efforts by states, medical organizations and health advocates to help women experiencing these symptoms — an estimated one in seven postpartum mothers’, some experts say. “There’s better evidence for identifying and treating women with depression” during and after pregnancy, said Dr. Michael Pignone, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an author of the recommendation, which was issued by the United States Preventive Services Task Force. As a result, he said, “We specifically called out the need for screening during this period.” The recommendation was part of updated depression-screening guidelines issued by the panel, an independent group of experts appointed by the Department of Health and Human Services.” “It’s very significant that the task force is now putting forth a recommendation that’s specific to pregnant and postpartum women,” said Katy Kozhimannil, an associate professor of public health at the University of Minnesota. “Policy makers will pay attention to it. Increased screening and detection of depression is an enormous public health need.”

Most women are not aware of depression during and after pregnancy in Nigeria and around the world, thus this should be inculcated into the antenatal program. It is absolutely important for women to know that depression can occur and when it does, they must not feel awkward to share their feelings with their doctor.

Melissa Med narrated how she felt and why she couldn’t tell her doctor. ‘Oh my God, I’m having these crazy feelings and nobody’s talking about it. I must be a terrible mother.’” ” No one screened Melissa Mead, 30, of The Dalles Ore, during or after her first pregnancy, five years ago. Shortly after her son Brady’s birth, “I experienced postpartum depression, anxiety and O.C.D.,” she said, and “I didn’t know what it was.” She cried constantly, barely slept, rarely left home and was scared to death that her baby was going to suffocate,’’ she said.

Seeing a psychiatrist is always mis-termed and misconceived. ‘Some experts say, pregnant women with depression often take poorer care of their prenatal health. And maternal mental illness can affect children, leading to behavioral problems, emotional instability and difficulty in school, so is important to talk to a psychiatrist during pregnancy without the feeling of ‘ what people will think if they see you coming out of their office’.

Kindly share this post so all pregnant women can be informed on depression during and after child birth and if you would like to share your feeling during and after pregnancy kindly mail [email protected]

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Emobileclinic member experience,
NY times