Postpartum Stress

Childbirth and Stress

So you are pregnant and you spend the better part of a year anxiously awaiting the arrival of your new baby. When you finally give birth to your new son or daughter, it is the happiest day of your life, and you have nothing but excitement and optimism about raising this little person. Unfortunately, it is not long before you are not quite as excited and happy as you were before. It makes no sense to you why a person would become depressed after something so great just happened to them.

This phenomenon is referred to as postpartum depression, and is extremely common amongst new mothers worldwide. The symptoms generally mirror those of regular depression - lack of energy and motivation, unexplained sadness or irritability, stress and anxiety, and so forth. The severity of the symptoms experienced varies greatly from one person to the next. Some people do not ever develop postpartum depression, some experience mild to moderate symptoms, and there are cases where new mothers have gone off the deep end criminally and blamed it on postpartum depression.

There is a logical explanation for postpartum depression, and it has to do with hormonal imbalances and dramatic lifestyle and household changes that take place when a baby is born. A woman's body and hormones go through incredible changes when she is pregnant. That, in and of itself, would not be so bad, except the body goes through these changes gradually during the nine months of gestation. The problems occur after the baby is born because childbirth is a huge shock to the system. The body was allowed to change gradually, but had to change back immediately once the baby was born. Because everyone's bodies are different, these changes effect everyone differently.

As for lifestyle changes, there are plenty of stressful changes that need to be made when you introduce a new person into a household, especially when it is a baby that needs constant care. The new parents will often find themselves getting considerably less sleep than they are used to. They will have to re-arrange their daily schedules to make sure that the new baby is accomodated for. Because the baby is taking up so much of their free time, they find themselves having less alone time or time that they can spend together. All of these things can put a serious strain on a relationship, particularly if one parent feels that they are doing more work than the other.

One way to aleviate some of the stress of bringing a baby into the world is to plan ahead for the inevitable changes. Families that are expecting a new child can start planning as soon as the pregnancy is confirmed. During the following nine months, set the alarm to come on every two hours or so throughout the night and stay awake for about 15 minutes. Agree upon a schedule for taking care of the new baby so that each parent is given the chance to rest regularly.

Postpartum depression and the stress that comes with it does not have to be consuming and overwhelming. If you come up with a plan to deal with changes and make sure to communicate with others when you are feeling depressed, you will surely find that it makes your life and the life of your new baby much more comfortable.