Emily Buddemeyer, age 21, who lives in Porter, Maine, had a rough pregnancy. Shortly before that, she had a miscarriage. She had a delivery that quickly turned into her almost losing her life. This was not once, but twice within the first few days after giving birth. She also had a hard time mentally and emotionally in the following few months after the birth of her son, Miles. Her story is on the extreme end of what a woman goes through bringing children into the world. But even women who have very minimal problems conceiving, carrying the pregnancy to term and having a healthy delivery can experience anxiety and depression during and after pregnancy.
Postpartum.net estimates that 6 percent of women will experience anxiety during pregnancy. Ten percent will experience postpartum anxiety. This anxiety is sometimes by itself, or it can develop in addition to depression. About 10 percent of women will develop depression during pregnancy (called antepartum) and 15 percent will develop postpartum depression.
Changes in the hormones estrogen and progesterone may cause postpartum. These levels are at an all-time high during pregnancy. Following delivery they drop dramatically back to pre-pregnancy levels. Thyroid hormones levels decreasing after pregnancy also may play a role. Other factors include genetics, emotional and environmental factors.
Emily credits supportive people in her life and the doctors and nurses who saw early signs of depression and anxiety – not just postpartum, but throughout her pregnancy – and brought it to her attention. This allowed her to talk about it and get whatever help she needed.
For too long, medical professionals and society did not always acknowledge or take seriously women’s feelings of anxiety and depression associated with miscarriages, pregnancies and postpartum.
Emily never felt that she could not talk about her miscarriage. She said, “No, never. In fact, I know several women around my age that have had miscarriages. Yes, it’s sad but we don’t hide it. We talk openly about it. My doctor said it is more common than people think. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
This is quite a different story than what previous generations had to deal with. Or maybe the experience some women today still have to endure.
An older woman, Anne, said, “When I had my first child, back in the ‘90s, looking back I realize now that I suffered from postpartum depression. No one ever brought it to my attention that I was depressed. And no one talked to me about the possibility of having this. I would hear things like, ‘You just had a baby. Why aren’t you happy?’ It was tough. My anxiety was just chalked up to being an overly paranoid mother. I do remember in my younger years, whenever postpartum or ‘baby blues’ was mentioned, it had such a negative connotation to it and a stigma attached to it. So, you don’t talk about it. The last thing a mother wants to have is for people to think that you are so depressed you can’t take care of your baby.”
Anne herself never had any miscarriages. “No. But my mother did back in the early ‘70s. She said it was something that just wasn’t talked about much at all. You didn’t really hear much about it. You suffered alone.”
