Baby Blues And Pregnancy

What you need to know about the baby blues during pregnancy that can help you combat them postpartum.

While I was pregnant with my first daughter, my husband and I attended the birth classes at the hospital. We wanted to make sure we knew as much as possible before the baby was born. It had been a long time since either of us had been around a baby. There were maybe 4 or 5 classes that each lasted 2-3 hours. In one class we spent maybe 45 minutes learning or listening to the lecture on Baby Blues and Postpartum Depression. It was so brief and basic that I'm not even sure I could remember what they taught us.

However, I had a friend who got tickets to the presentation at a local hospital about it. It was a presentation designed for nurses and doctors to earn their continuing education credits, not pregnant moms. Mad did I learn a LOT. It is what enabled me to understand that I should be talking to my husband and doctor about how I was feeling, and that I should not be embarrassed to do so.

I one hundred percent believe that I was able to overcome it and get the help I needed because of that presentation and knowing as much as I could about it before having my baby.

With that being said, what exactly is the difference between the Baby Blues and Postpartum Depression? Well, the Baby Blues will start right away and last only a week or two. Whereas Postpartum Depression last longer and the symptoms are much more severe.

Some signs and symptoms of the Baby blues are:

Mood swings, anxiety, sadness, irritability, feeling overwhelmed, crying, reduced concentration, appetite problems, and trouble sleeping.

Some sign and symptoms of Postpartum Depression are:

Depressed mood or severe swings, excessive crying, difficulty bonding with baby, withdrawing from family and friends, major change in appetite (very little or a lot), sleep changes (too much or not enough), loss of energy, reduced interest in your favorite things, intense irritability and anger, hopeless, feeling worthless, shameful, guilty, restless, and thoughts of harming self (or baby), thoughts of death or suicide.

Remember Postpartum Depression can also affect your ability to care for your baby or other tasks. It may also develop while pregnant, or well after having your baby (even up to a year later) and last much longer.

Don't be scared. Knowing all of this is important in recognizing signs in yourself and getting help quickly. It also arms you with the information you need to help prevent it now.

Ways to combat it before it starts:

Try not to have a birth plan beyond who do you call when the contractions start and where do you go when they say it is time. If you feel better having the birth plan, make multiple. Be okay with all of them. Understand anything can happen. I was terrible about this, I had one vision in mind and it really went left and that definitely made things worse for me. If you have a birth plan, you can also think about what could happen with each phase of it. Knowing all the possibilities also helps. For example, if you have a plain that starts with "Call doctor then head to hospital X", understand that some other possibilities might be, "Call Ambulance, then doctor" or "Call Doctor but don't make it to hospital so call ambulance". Another scenario might be "I want to walk my whole labor" but know that you might have to be in bed because the doctors have to monitor you or baby is at risk. Know that you might get dizzy walking or it actually hurts to walk more. In other words, write down and understand all the possible option at each stage of your plan. I also didn't know that once they give you an epidural it could "fall out" and they tried twice more to fix it before it was too late. I had all of about 30 minutes of freedom from pain before it started again.

There are also somethings I wish I had known before my daughter was born so that life when she was here would have been easier. I will be doing a blog about this for life after baby with baby blues as well, but some of this is important to know while you are pregnant. I had no idea there was such thing as a lip and tongue tie. My daughter has both. This made breastfeeding impossible, frustrating and definitely did not help my mood. Another thing I did not know was that we were supposed to track urine and stool output of my daughter. We were a little bit, but I still think to this day we left the hospital with a dehydrated baby. I wish I had known to be more vocal about what exactly was in her diaper, she was "peeing" but it was very little, not enough. I should have spoken up.

Ultimately if you can learn and research as much as possible ahead of time (don't let the information scare you, let it be helpful and rewarding. A small amount of discomfort now helps lead to a happier and healthier you later. Have a discussion with your spouse or partner or a trusted family member now, before you are in the woods. Let everyone know what to look for, how they can help, and what you need to do.

Keep an out for the next blog about the tips and tricks you can do to combat the blues after you have them!

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Reach out if you have any further questions at any time!

Jen@momsfitlife.com

Live your life confidently!