Baby Blues or Postpartum Depression?
Becoming a parent is the biggest change of your life. Physical, emotional, social. Everything changes. You have a nice wardrobe that you don’t fit in anymore. You used to go out with coworkers, but happy hour is now off-limits. You have a good connection with your partner, but intimacy gets tougher and your experiences are somewhat divergent. You have new expenses, so where you once had some financial flexibility, you have to tighten up a bit. You love to sleep, but now it only comes in two-hour bursts. Your car and apartment might be too small. Even your bladder doesn’t do the job it used to. Whoever you used to be, now you are a parent.
But don’t worry, people bring you casseroles. Lots of casseroles.
The greeting cards you get at your baby shower say that babies are bundles of joy, little miracles, that our worlds will be full of warmth and love and endless giggles. At times, your baby will bring you so much joy that your heart will feel like it is going to explode out of your chest. But there are many moments when it’s not joyful or full of laughs. Sometimes it’s boring and mundane. Exhausting. Frustrating. Infuriating. Terrifying. It is certainly not endless giggles.
In our culture that values independence, new parents are often struggling alone because we don’t parent in community.
Parents are alone far too much and often in the beginning parents feel incompetent. When a baby is born, the mother instinct is supposed to kick in, right? And then automatically you’ll know what to do. Nope. It’s the steepest learning curve around. Many moms turn to the internet at 3 am, and that just adds to the confusion and anxiety. One forum leads to another and what you thought were mosquito bites are now most certainly the plague.
Clinical services at Nature’s Playhouse provide an additional layer of support for parents. Our fully licensed clinical social workers are available to support you in this transition as well. Whether you are seeking support to cope with what feels like the “normal” transition into parenting or you are worried that you may have postpartum depression, OCD, or anxiety, we are here for you. They each have specialized training in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and are moms themselves. Sometimes the challenges come a little later and you need support in the world’s most difficult job: parenting. Or maybe your relationship with your partner could use a tune-up in all this change. Our therapists are here to help.
