Postpartum Depression

Being a girl of the 21st century, the idea of postpartum depression seemed unreal at first. Whenever someone spoke about it, I thought to myself I am never going to go through this depression part, well I was wrong. I did go through it and I did all those thing exactly how the mothers talking about it said one would.

The world has seen a huge change in the terms of women making their mark in the society. Right from taking care of the house to working late in the office, maintaining the mother and daughter-in-law status and also being a CEO of a company.

The postpartum depression is due to the freedom that we are used to enjoying on a day to day basis (in my opinion). We have a routine and a pretty busy one and when we have to stay home 24/7 doing as such nothing but take care of the kid, it becomes difficult for us. Knowing that we will not be able to step out as per our wish is also a difficult thing to digest.

I have been through this phase and this phase had brought a lot of unwanted, unpleasant things in my mind. A few that I remember are:

1. Guilt of not being a good mother

2. Doubting yourself at every point

3. Crying for no good reason

4. Overthinking things 

5. Frustration of not understanding what the kid wants

6. Fearing of losing your identity

7. The thought that people around you will not consider you important anymore

The symptoms of postpartum depression are

The depression for some mothers end quickly and for some it goes on for months. It is sometimes confusing and irritating that you are not able to understand the situation and take control of it. You know the facts, you know you are going to get out of this but you still can’t snap out of it, can’t make sense of things.

There are lot of things happening in a mothers body like hormonal imbalance, physical changes and mentally you are stressed, have mood swings and sleepless nights etc. All these factors add to the depression and it becomes difficult to cope when you are going through so many things at a time.

In times like these having family members around help a lot. They help you get through this phase, help you process things that you can’t make sense of and stand by you when you are low and doubting yourself. I was lucky enough to have had a great support from family and could snap out of postpartum depression very quickly.

I feel the key to bounce back is to stay positive and happy. Seeing the situation that you have just delivered a child you have been waiting for so long, you can’t remain unhappy and depressed around it. The fact that you are the person he/she needs the most is the biggest reason you have to get out of this as quickly as possible.

The more you stay depressed, the more you miss out on the days of your child’s life, these moments are not going to come back and you are never going to enjoy it again. Make the most of it, stop overthinking about things. Live in the moment, enjoy each day and every moment with your child.

In today’s times out of 10 almost 9 mothers go through this and the irony is that they know about it, they have read about it, might have discussed it with other mothers as well and still go through this because sometimes things are not in your hands. But the moment you decide that you are done with this, you need to take charge of your life and get on with it. The only way to get out of the depression is to realize, accept and move past it.

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