PPD Counseling

Yesterday I went and met with the (free) postpartum counselor at the hospital.  It felt good talking to someone about what I was experiencing and to walk away with some constructive to do items.

The first is that I need to find a way to get more sleep.  That would be great-but how?  My husband works full time and I am not having my 70 year old parents get up with her (they have already paid their dues in this department).  Every suggestion she gave I batted away, but after taking Isabella for a walk this morning I came up with three viable options.  First, asking J.T. to take bedtime and the first one to two night feedings on Saturday nights.  This would give me a 6 hour block of uninterrupted sleep.  Second, look for an overnight babysitter (colleague's college age kid?  Care.com?) one week night a week for the next four weeks.  Third, looking at improving the quality of Isabella's sleep.  She is sooo restless and her napping is still so erratic (unless she is sleeping on me!).  Maybe if we got that figured out we could both get longer stretches of sleep at night.

The second thing we discussed was medication.  I am still opposed to medication (not for other people, just for me for some reason); however, could not articulate a good reason as to why I am opposed.  I kept going back to assuming these feelings would be short term, but as she pointed out a number of stressors (family health concerns, possible adoption placement, transitioning to single income again, etc.) are not going anywhere.  While she is right, I still hesitate to strap myself to a daily mood altering medication.  We said we would come back to the topic next week when we meet.  A friend pointed out that some meds such as Xanax are taken only as needed, I feel much better about something like that so will ask the counselor about as needed medication options.

The counselor also recommended a book (see below) which I was able to download on my phone's Kindle app and in reading the first chapter have come to see that there are multiple postpartum mood "disorders" and that I more identify with Postpartum Stress Disorder than Postpartum Depression.  I will be interested in seeing what the counselor says when I share these thoughts with her next week.

I continue to be so thankful for the hospital and affiliated medical practice we selected.  They have been such a blessing.  I think it is awesome that they offer this free service and hope other hospitals provide a similar support and that women in need are aware it exists.