PPD Survivor goes pink!

It's the last day of September and I've changed my blog color to pink! October is breast cancer awareness month and I think this is a tremendous and very important cause to support. For info on breast cancer awareness and fundraising events that are happening around the country during October, check out the Susan G. Komen web site as well as the American Cancer Society's site. The Cancer Research Foundation offers ideas on ways to have your own fundraiser to help fund cancer research.

What to do if you're suffering from PPD but don't have health insurance ... here's one idea

Ever since I've started blogging about my own postpartum depression experience and also about the amazing resources that are out there for women and their families who are suffering, I often hear from new moms who are looking for help but don't have health insurance. This is such a huge issue, but after doing a little digging, I've been able to find some free resources that are out there.

For one, a wonderful organization called Postpartum Support International offers free phone sessions on an 800 line. These free sessions happen every Wednesday and are hosted by a PPD expert. This is an awesome, free resource that I think would be helpful to so many new mothers out there, as well as to their spouses, family and friends. Please check it out.

Postpartum Support International is now offering free Perinatal Mood Disorder Informational sessions via 800 teleconference line. The sessions are open to women who feel they may be suffering from a pregnancy related mood disorder, as well as to concerned family and friends. Callers will have the opportunity to ask questions and obtain information from PSI healthcare professionals. This new program started Wednesday, May 2, 2007, at 3pm eastern standard time and will continue weekly on Wednesdays, alternating between 3pm and 9pm eastern standard time. The sessions are limited to the first 15 callers.Participants must call 1-800-944-8766 five minutes before the call begins. After the 15th caller joins the call, no other callers may join.This is a tremendous resource!! Check www.postpartum.net for dates, times and facilitators.

To breastfeed or not to breastfeed. That is the question. Don't let the current hospital movement influence your choice!

I know I've written about this before in a previous post ... about how difficult it was when I decided not to breastfeed my fourth baby (and I don't mean the decision itself was difficult -- it was that the health care providers around me were unbelievably difficult). Well, I'm just glad that I'm not giving birth today because of the self-righteous stance that a slew of hospitals and providers around the country are taking.

What's happening is this: there's a movement involving hospitals in New York, California, Colorado, Massachusetts and Texas to stop giving out free formula samples to new moms. The thinking behind this movement is that because the American Academy of Pediatrics has determined that breastfeeding is best, then new moms should not be exposed to a 6-pack of free formula bottles because, heaven forbid, they will most assuredly become instantly swayed to give up breastfeeding. I mean, who are we as women to actually make the choice on how best to feed our babies?

And so what about the women who end up having to have an unplanned (or planned) C-section which can delay milk production by several days? Or the women who have babies that suffer from severe allergies? Or the women (like me) who choose to take an anti-depressant, that happens to be very dangerous to an infant, in order to be able to function as a mother? I'm sure there are plenty of new moms who are suddenly confronted with a change in plan and have to use formula for one reason or another, and are unprepared ... it is essential for them to have easy and free access to formula.

Whoever had the idea that mothers need to be denied something in order for them to make the "right" choice (according to the mandate of an organization) is absolutely crazy. And, not to mention, obviously a man. This isn't an Orwellian world we live in -- at least not yet. Let's protect our right to choose how we feed our babies.

Postpartum depression risk assessment during pregnancy

I just love the The Postpartum Stress Center site. One great tool on the site is a PPD risk assessment for women who are pregnant or planning to be pregnant. It's a good way to become educated on various factors that could predispose you to experiencing a postpartum mood disorder. For example, the following are some of the factors listed in the assessment:

- I have had a previous episode of postpartum depression and/or anxiety that was successfully treated with therapy and/or medication.

- I might have experienced symptoms of postpartum depression following previous births, but I never sought professional help.

- I have had one or more pregnancy losses.

- I have a history of depression/anxiety that was not related to childbirth.

- I have lost a child.

- I have been a victim of the following:
Childhood sexual abuse
Childhood physical abuse
Physical assault by someone I know
Physical assault by a stranger
Physical assault during this pregnancy
Sexual assault by someone I know
Sexual assault by a stranger

- There is a family history of depression/anxiety, treated or untreated.

- I have a history of severe PMS.

- I do not have a strong support system to help me if I need it.

- I have a history of drug or alcohol abuse.

- People have told me I'm a perfectionist.

- During the past year, I have experienced an unusual amount of stress (ex: Move, job loss, divorce, loss of loved one)

I find this list so interesting and wish I'd had it back in the day. For example, the perfectionist issue -- who would have thought that being a perfectionist could raise your risk for having PPD? But, I can totally see it and how that overwhelming feeling that you're not doing everything you should be doing for your newborn, the household, other kids who need your attention, etc., etc., is devastating to a perfectionist who is used to having everything all put together perfectly.

And what about a history of severe PMS? That's such a huge and common issue. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, approximately 40% of women experience PMS on a consistent basis. And nearly 85% of women will experience one or more of the symptoms over the course of their reproductive life. But do these women realize that having PMS may be a factor that puts them at higher risk for PPD?

And of course the support system issue is a biggy and I've written about it before because it's something I've experienced personally -- both the lack of support and having support. For me, not having a strong support system was the overriding factor when I suffered from PPD. I felt like I was screaming out for help but no one was hearing me. It was horrible feeling so utterly alone and it nearly did me in. But with my subsequent pregnancy here in Arizona, when I had an overwhelmingly strong support system in place, my postpartum was wonderful. When pregnant women are busy filling a nursery with furniture, bedding, diapers, and other essentials, what they really need to be doing is filling up their support system with friends and family who are willing to pitch in with meals, household help, supportive phone calls, shopping assistance, birth announcements and more.

I could write all day about the above list. Most importantly, I want to applaud The Postpartum Stress Center for creating its eye-opening PPD Risk Assessment During Pregnancy. I think every pregnant woman should take a look at it. If you're not familiar with The Postpartum Stress Center, it was founded in 1988 by the wonderful Karen Kleiman, MSW, and received Postpartum Support International's Jane Honikman Award in 2003.

Eating your placenta (placentophagy) cures postpartum depression??!?

Okay, I'm trying to type this post with a straight face. I know this topic has been out there for a long while ... I think I first heard about it a few years ago and repressed the memory of it. It's come back above ground recently through the media and still totally freaks me out. I find it amazing that a woman sued a hospital to get her placenta so she could eat it. And I just visited a discussion thread on mothering.com to see what other moms are saying about the suggestion that eating your placenta cures you of PPD. I'm still freaked out....

So there are women who actually roast their placentas in the oven shortly after they've given birth. They wait till it's dried out, carefully strip away the membranes (are you feeling sick yet?), chop it up into bite-size pieces, pound them into powder and pour the powder into empty capsules to "swallow without being able to taste it." There are other placenta recipes, such as dropping it into a blender with your favorite smoothie mix (don't forget to add extra strawberries to disguise the red color of the blood), or even mixing it with vegetable juice till it tastes like a bloody mary (no pun intended!).

I even came across a site that shows a woman holding her placenta and describing it as looking like a "boneless beef round steak." She does offer other options in lieu of the Silence of the Lambs routine, such as making a "placenta print as a keepsake," or to "use it to fertilize your garden."

I don't know, this is all just a bit too crunchy for me. I can't imagine a "cure" for PPD looking like this. The assertion is that the placenta is filled with hormones that helped sustain the pregnancy, and if the mother ingests it, she will replace the hormones she has lost and avoid suffering from PPD. One question I haven't yet seen addressed is: once a placenta is dried out, would the hormones even still be chemically active/viable?

But nevermind that -- is this the kind of PPD "cure" that women have hoped for? Are we really so desperate to accept something so unbelievably icky??