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Does anyone think their birth experience contributed to PPD?

4K views 41 replies 34 participants last post by  TSamara 
#1 ·
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#28 ·
Quote:
I don't doubt that this is why you had PPD. But the atmosphere and the events surrounding the birth and postpartum -- in short, "the birth experience" -- do affect hormonal release. Just because you experienced a far worse PPD because of your thyroid problems does not mean that birth experiences cannot cause PPD
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Fourlittlebirds - it is just my opinion. I don't think a negative birth experience causes PPD. I was completely devastated by my first birth experience. It brought me extreme sadness for years and still does but now that I have had a good birth experience it has really helped tone down the sadness. Yet with all of that sadness I did not have PPD. Being sad and having true depression are 2 different things. I never knew what it was really like to have depression until my 2nd child when PPD set in. The only time I have felt something similar is when September 11th happened.

I just don't believe that the type of birth experience you have makes your hormonal release any different.

I had a post partum thyroid problem after both of my pregnancies but only developed PPD after the amazing wonderful birth of my 2nd child. It is a strange feeling to be on a complete high from a childbirth that was everything you dreamed of, yet clinically depressed at the same time. You just can't control it.
 
#29 ·
My own experience was that my birth experince did contribute to my PPD. It was one of the things I worked on with my therapist. Although I had suffered from depression in the past (and so was familiar with the feelings/thoughts of depression and my DH knew exactly what to look for in my behavior and attitude) and was expecting the possibility of PPD....my c/s made it so much worse.

On top of a genetic predisposition to depression I felt weighed down by the "failure" of my natural childbirth plans (32 hours of medication free natural labor with a wonderful doctor and a doula and a fantastic support team but due to SPROM and my dd's misalignment I wound up with two spinals and a c/s). I felt singled out, misunderstood, and certianly outside the undestanding of people IRL as well as here at MDC (in real life people couldn't understand why the c/s upset me so much, while in MDC women would say things like the c/s happened since I obviously didn't try hard enough/stand up for myself/do everything right). If you have a traumatic experience and then fail to find social and empotional support...well, that certainly seems to play into an atmosphere that can encourage Depression!

There are a number of studies (I'll go check the literature, but I'm in a rush right now) that show a link between c/s and and an increase in PPD. Since a c/s is often a traumatic event for the mom (though not always of course!) I don't think it would be unreasonable to expect a traumatic birth experience (either surgical or vaginal) to impact the development of PPD.

And in my case, it certainly did. I know PPD can occur after any birth (good or bad) and that's why I planned for it. But a negative birth experience can certainly be the straw on the camel's back!
 
#30 ·
totally . . . hi . . . im new here . . . i had toxemia and was induced, it took my dd 2 days to finally deliver as i fought a section unless it was necessary. she wasnt breathing and they couldnt control my bleeding. i dont remember much more of the hospital except my now ex left to go to dinner with his mother an hour after she was born, i wasnt allowed to have my baby because i was sick and i was alone and scared. i was in the er the day after i was released, sent home and the back and admitted the next day. no one listened to me that i did not feel right. my ob didnt see the signs, but my internist did and for that i am so grateful.
i dont talk much about my experience with it, it was all so bad. i am so grateful that my dd is ok and i am too.
wow, i didnt mean to rant that all out, i have never put that in writing before.
 
#31 ·
I don't think it did. i had a really great birth experience. And i was in denial about ppd until my son was about 9 months and he's almost a year now. I am pretty sure i had it those whole 9 months...so sad. But i was so happy and proud of my birth..i dont think it had anything to do with it. But i do believe that it can.
 
#33 ·
I'll try to keep this Reader's Digest length.

My DD is 2 now and I think I am dealing with delayed PPD and maybe PTSD as well.

I was sexually abused by a pediatric urologist as a child...as you can imagine, I have a severe distrust of any doctor who wants me to remove my pants, let alone someone laying a hand on any part of me that is not covered by clothing. Pelvics and anything even slightly invasive are just out of the question.

Thanks to the support of my DH Shrink and Therapist, I decided (after years of convincing myself that I didn't like, nor want children) to get pregnant. I hd t this point been on anti depressants for 4 years. I chose a homebirth with extremely understanding midwives who supported me nd my wishes. I made it through the pregnancy with no invasive proceedures or testing (not bad considering I was almost 40 at the time). Well, needless to say things went VERY wrong during labor. I was having pushing contrctions at 6cm (I finally allowed my very trusted MW to check) and they went on for 12 hours with me stuggeling (sp?) not to push. By then I was exhausted, dehydrated and very frustrated. The MW suggested that it was time to transfer.

We arrived at the hospital only to find that the only MW from the hospital that was on duty was the one I HATED (from my Just in Case back up visits) and did not support my decisions in any way. (she had tried to push me into all sorts of tests and proceedures which I continued to refuse) I was left with no choice but to deal with her. She was rude, mean and abusive. I refused an epidural and was told they would not give pitocin without it, so I chose not to get pitocin. The next thing I knew, they were roughly cathing me and putting in an internal monitor also roughly....wouldn't you know my DD Heart rate dropped and I ended up Emergancy C-Section...what a surprise.

The OB on duty told me that he would love to blame the HB but that we did everything right. DD ended up in NICU for week on unneeded antibiotics because my white count was really high. She went unfed (no food at all, just IV) for 48 hours and then a bottle since they wouldn't let me BF directly for another 48 hours so they could check intake/output (did I mention that that made breastfeeding afterword nearly impossible and I ended up pumping exclusively for 6 months since she would not latch on?

Then, because she has only 1 kidney...the PEDIATRIC UROLOGIST cathed her for a "test" without my knowledge, permission or presence.

Anyway...since I was on prozac through ll of this I handled it all surprisingly well. Then 2 months ago, I decided to go drug free....I am now experiencing all of it...nightmares, anger, recurring obsessive thoughts about the midwives and also starting to feel a loss of connection to my DD.

You tell me...What do you think?

Sorry so long,
Dee
 
#35 ·
Definitely can set things off...or give you something to think about when you're already depressed. I don't know that we need to name the problem (PPD) to have a hard time adjusting, KWIM? I've been writing about my experience at my blog lately, trying to process it...http://herewego.zaadz.com

My emergency c-section (and its cause and effect) started me on the path to feeling inadequate, that's for sure.
 
#36 ·
I don't think I necessarily have PPD, but I've had little episodes of feeling really depressed and guilty over my birth experience. I wanted a natural birth, but at the time I was really clueless. My mom is against birthing anywhere but a hospital and although she didn't have any pain meds, she thinks epidurals sound GREAT! My MIL was 100% convinced I would need a C-section because I'm a bit on the smaller side. I had no faith in my ability to birth normally and didn't know what to expect, so we planned a hospital birth with an OB. I really didn't even know I had any other options. I wanted it drug free and read the Bradley book, but when I got to the hospital at 6 cm shaking uncontrollably and in more pain than I had ever imagined possible (contractions were just maybe 3 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute, some were even double peaking), I took the epidural. After maybe 2 or more hours of intense pain, it went away and everything was calm with the epidural. At the time, I wasn't too bothered by it because I justed wanteds the pain gone and I wanted to see my baby. I had her vaginally with no problems, but she didn't breathe right away and had an APGAR score of 5 at first.

As time went on, I felt pretty guilty for getting the epidural. I wanted it natural and I felt like I missed out. They also inserted an internal fetal monitor that didn't work and wasn't even necessary. I wondered after the fact if it inhibited my early mothering instincts because I let her go to the nursery for a couple hours so I could sleep (although I cried and had a hard time sleeping with her away... I was just sleep deprived), I let her get her blood test while she lied in her little bassinet and get her hep B shot in the nursery. I let her get her bath away from me and let her sit under the heat lamp after the bath when they said she was cold. I guess I just didn't feel as strongly about these issues that I have since researched and formed strong opinions on. I wasn't really into going against the grain or anything.

Well, I had been feeling really depressed over all of that, but I felt a little better when my mom said that she thinks you can concentrate more on the actual birth more. I realized that the birth wasn't WRONG, just different. Haley is very healthy and we have a very strong bond now. I feel confident in most of my parenting decisions since and I learned so much from Haley's birth. We have an idea of how we want our births to go and unfortunately even with the best planning, things don't always go how we wanted them to. We just have to make peace with that and realize that regardless of how our birth went, we got a beautiful wonderful gift from it


ETA: I think thhat perhaps when we are feeling depressed, we think of reasons to be hard on ourselves. We think "I'm terrible. I should have ____." Going back to a less than perfect birthing experience could be one thing we use as the source of the angst even when the depression may really be coming from chemical imbalances or other outside sources.
 
#37 ·
I think birth does play a part, not to mention treatment during and after....

First birth was really traumatic, leaving me with PTSD.... Second birth was fantastic but I was left with depression........ I reckon it has more to do with the fact that I can now see just how bad it was the first time around and..... Although the birth was fantastic the MWs took over afterwoulds, DH was just left standing around while they dressed the baby etc, I could hear her crying etc and nobody would give her to me, then as soon as I got to hold her and get her feeding she would have to be taken off me so I could have injections, bloods taken etc.............. I really felt that if we had just been left quietly for a bit afterwoulds then maybe she wouldn't have had such bad colic (I know its just speculation)...........

I reckon that pushing the body into something it isn't ready for (ie induction) messes up the hormones, as does epis and various intervention, being separated from baby and baby placed in the nursery (why do they do this??? I was glad to be able to sleep with mine the first night etc)........... List goes on.

Obviously, intervention is necessary sometimes, but the sooner we are able to just birth in a nice, dark, warm, quiet room with no distractions or unnecessary interference the better.
 
#38 ·
If I had any ppd at all it was caused by the birth experience. I wanted & worked hard for a natural birth (took bradley classes, etc.). Instead i was bullied by my NMW into induction w/ pitocin which led to a c-section. I haven't written about it here b/c I'm still too sad & angry about it and i need to let it go for now so i can focus on taking care of my daughter. She, by the way, was fine through the whole thing, came out w/ an apgar of 9, and has been thriving ever since; that's what saves me from having clinical ppd.

Oh and did i mention i got zero support from my family & friends re: my feelings on this; no one sees anything wrong with what happened. All I get is a condescending, "Well, I know it wasn't the birth you wanted, but..." So I can certainly understand how your IL's intrusion could have set you off on a depressed path. They disrespected you by ignoring your wishes at what was supposed to be a very intimate time for you, dh & baby. I'd be pissed - not sure what i would do about it but i can see why you'd have trouble with this.
 
#39 ·
Quote:
I just don't believe that the type of birth experience you have makes your hormonal release any different.
Sorry to be blunt, but this is just flat-out wrong. The environment surrounding the birth, the emotional and mental state of the mother, and interventions employed and drugs used, all very seriously affect hormonal release. Pick up any well-researched book on birth -- Henci Goer, Robbie Davis-Floyd, Sarah Buckley, Suzanne Arms, Sheila Kitzinger, Michel Odent -- and you will find plenty of explanations and scientific evidence for this phenomenon.
 
#41 ·
Gals, take a look at this article:
http://www.sheilakitzinger.com/Artic...irthHaunts.htm

I believe I suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after the birth of my first baby. It is different from PPD, although some of the symptoms appear to be the same. The treatment is not the same.

For me the symptoms were an inability to move past the birth - I replayed it over and over and over again. I thought I was going crazy. I wanted to die in order to make it stop. I thought about running away - thinking maybe by running away from my life, I could run away from the problem - but I knew it wouldn't work. I had difficulty bonding with my baby - I saw myself as victimized by her. She was very high need, and I *felt* she was physically hurting me.

I know the element of my past birth that was directly responsible for the PTSD was the fact that I had asked to be transported to the hospital from home, and my husband and midwife refused to take me. I had abandonment issues over that. My horrendous labor culminated with a beautiful self-directed waterbirth - but the terror of hearing my most beloved tell me he would not help me when I was begging for help overshadowed that.

If you have PTSD, the best help is talking with folks willing to listen - figuring out what was the trauma and letting it go. Taking steps to prevent the it from happening in the future is also helpful. The road can be long and hard, but there are happy days in sight.
 
#42 ·
I have read before that there is a link between the two.
My birth was a fiasco. Nothing went as I wanted it. I was induced, then pumped with hormones over and over until the contractions kicked in, then the baby was in distress and they did an emergency caesarian.
I didn't want my parents there but they were anyway. There was a friend who came into see us drunk, and the nurse wanted ME to do something about him. I wanted the birth filmed, but that was not possible because it was an operation. There was conflict between my best friend and my mother. Meanwhile my drunk friend broke into my apartment.
My PPD kicked in the day I left hospital, when my baby was 6 days old. That's all the time we had together - 6 days. Then came the HELL. I had to stay with my parents because I was too sick to live at home. The doctors wouldn't help me. My parents' dog got on my nerves, getting into the baby's stuff. My brother left home in a huff. There was conflict between my mum and baby's dad.
After that both my brothers disowned me because I wasn't married. It seems laughable now. What a stupid reason to disown your sister.
After about 3 months I was well enough to move back into my apartment. Then my friend left me and I was back at my parents. Suicidal again. After about a month I went back home again.

Reading other posts, I feel there is a connection between ANGER and PPD. Shame birthing mothers aren't treated with more respect.
 
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