From: Women with postpartum depression: "my husband" stories
Mother | Onset of Symptoms | Initial Reference to Husband |
---|---|---|
M1 | ... around 4 1/2 months and ah I started to recognize that there was something terribly wrong | I told [my husband] I hadn't slept in two weeks ... and my husband ... he drove me to the hospital |
M3 | ... the first month ...the mood ... sit there by myself and cry and then feel guilty ... I suffered from a lot of anxiety | ... my husband he was pretty much caring for [the baby] through the night/I would care for [the baby] during the day and as soon as he would come home I was out of the picture |
M4 | ... I knew I needed help at three month and I waited for the four month checkup with the baby | ... make everything look perfect on the outside ... [the doctor] asked me how much I was sleeping ... my husband said/"What!"/he had no clue that I wasn't sleeping |
M6 | I was getting the anxiety that you know ... but I know one night I was really bad like ... close to four months [postpartum] | Then one night I thought I heard her cry all night/my husband said she didn't cry at all and so I guess my nerves were really bad and then one day I said like to my husband/"I couldn't/I just couldn't deal" |
M8 | ... [my child] was 13 months and um started having real anxiety about being alone with [my child] and um feeling very overwhelmed with her care | ... my husband was out of town overnight so I knew he wasn't going to be at the house that night and I was just going to be on my own and I was just very overwhelmed |
M10 | It started pretty much when [my child] was born and it didn't take long for me to know that it was bad | I tried to tell my husband but just like he kinda tried to deny it |
M13 | I had depression right of the bat like within the first month/I didn't realize when it was happening/I just knew that I was stressed out and I I felt different | My husband involved my mother |
M14 | 2 1/2 days after I had the baby/that evening I had a panic attach/I didn't know what it was | ... next day [my baby] had an appointment with the doctor/my husband and I explained what happened ... that night it happened again but much worse/my husband had to call someone over |
M16 | I had a bit of postpartum with my first ... with my second and in fact sought help from a doctor then/I knew right away what if was with the third one | My husband could see it in me and you know he would ask me you know/"what's going on with you and the more supportive he got the more I wanted to cry" |
M17 | When the baby was eight weeks/exactly eight weeks/I was having a lot of physical symptoms | ... so the realization [concerning PPD] came just mainly by myself and just talking to my husband |
M19 | When the baby was born I just didn't feel right/I didn't feel myself | ... my husband had to take me to the doctor's because I knew something wasn't right |
M20 | ... so much pressure seemed to be on me [after my second]. I got to a breaking point where I just I can't do this anymore | I know my husband before me came to the conclusion/was telling me/"there's something wrong/there's something wrong"/but I was like/"no" |
M21 | ...during the first year [of child's life]/I didn't know it was depression ...I thought I was crazy/I thought there's something wrong with me mentally | I didn't show it [depression] in from of him .../he thought it was just the baby blues ... he/he did notice that I was/there was something wrong with me ... like he didn't have anything like that in his family |
M23 | ... I was so sick right after she was born. I was so depressed | ... it came to a point that I said to my husband,/"I have to be serious"/I told him/"I really get depressed and I have fear with it" |
M24 | Throughout the pregnancy I had never felt better in my whole life/one week after the baby was born I was sinking/I was terrified to be left alone with [the baby] | I told my husband/"don't leave me alone/I'm afraid"/his thinking was/"you are just afraid/you got to get use to [the baby]" |
M25 | ... first two weeks of the birth of each of my two children I had moods/couldn't sleep/tired no matter what and bad nerves/I was hospitalized the second time | ... after I came home from hospital [psychiatric hospitalization] I was so so anxious my husband had to take care of me and the kids |
M27 | ... for one year after [first child's name] was born I felt like I was going crazy ... I totally changed ... I didn't feel like I was me anymore. | ... my my husband thought it was post/we both thought it was postpartum depression/thought it was emotion |