May is Mental Health Month. As childbirth education advocates, Lamaze believes that mental health during and after pregnancy is critical to the health and safety of moms and their babies. If you are experiencing depression, anxiety, psychosis, or any other mental health issues, contact your care provider and seek support and resources from Postpartum Progress and Postpartum Support International. You don’t have to suffer alone — and you don’t have to suffer. There is support and treatment available for mental health disorders. Also know that you are not alone — it has been found that 1 in 7 women will experience postpartum depression, though that rate is thought to be higher for all postpartum disorders.
So how do you know if you are experiencing a postpartum disorder? Many moms downplay or dismiss their feelings, chalking them up to “hormones,” but it’s important to take notice and check in with yourself. A postpartum disorder is more than just a “bad day,” and even if you feel as though you are coping, a postpartum disorder ultimately affects your quality of life. If you feel as though something is “off” or if your partner expresses concern about your state of well-being, you can take a free, quick, confidential, online screening quiz to determine whether you may be suffering from postpartum depression.
The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EDPS) was developed in 1987 to help doctors determine whether a mother may be suffering from postpartum depression. The scale has since been validated, and evidence from a number of research studies has confirmed the tool to be both reliable and sensitive in detecting depression. The EPDS Score is designed to assist — not replace — clinical judgment. If you feel you may be at risk or suffering from post natal depression, please share the results with your care provider.
Seven years ago, I was newly pregnant and, honestly, a bit freaked out. Matt and I had been married for seven years and we knew we wanted kids. I just wasn’t sure I wanted to be a mom. You see, I liked my life as it was. I liked my job, I liked my freedom, I liked being in control, plus I wasn’t much of a baby person. I knew having kids would change things and I wasn’t sure I wanted to make those changes.
I am a childhood abuse survivor and so I didn’t have confidence or trust in my body. That lack of confidence was reinforced when my first birth, a planned natural birth, resulted in a painful and highly medicated induction. I suffered post-partum depression for over a year after the birth. But I am blessed because though I was defeated in spirit, I had great support. When I told my husband, Rob, that I was changing my care to a group of Certified Nurse Midwives who deliver at a local hospital he stood behind me. We did not know it at the time, but the choice to change my provider became one of the pivotal moments in my recovery as a survivor, and monumentally improved my joy in mothering and my marriage.
Will intercourse hurt when we start having it again? Will my vagina be loose? Will my partner still enjoy sex with me? More pregnant women and new moms than you might think fret about issues like these. To put your mind at ease about your after-baby body, here’s the scoop on the biggest sex-related worries women have.
New Year’s resolutions may take on more meaning if you’re preparing for the birth of a child in 2013. This year, perhaps for the first time, “join the gym and lose 10 pounds” isn’t on the list. At the same time, many of the resolutions you make for a healthy pregnancy look a lot like those you would make for a healthy lifestyle, pregnant or not. For example:
Ask our resident obstetrical expert, Henci Goer, any question you have about conception, pregnancy, birth, and newborns. 
