Many mothers will tell you that the best day of their lives were the ones that their babies were born. While this is admirable, new motherhood doesn't necessarily bring the same kind of joy to everyone.
Of course, no new mother voluntarily decides to not be over the moon about their new baby.
Sadly, postpartum depression affects up to 20% of new mothers and is characterized by "feeling sad, hopeless, empty, or overwhelmed" after giving birth, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Postpartum depression, or PPD is relatively well known. However, there is another form of pregnancy related depression that also affects up to 20% of women but is far less known.
In fact, one doctor tells the Washington Post that the condition is so unknown that many new mothers have no idea that there's actually a medical explanation for what they're going through.
One mother, Sophia Majid, is part of the one in five pregnant women who are affected by prenatal depression.
She spoke candidly with The Mirror UK about her story in hopes of spreading awareness.
Sophia is now a mother of four and professional makeup artist. She leads a happy life, but it all changed during her fourth pregnancy. Sophia tells The Mirror:
I got an infection that meant I had to stay in hospital for five days, and it was after that I started to notice a rapid change in my moods.
I got anxious and this made me to start panicking. The panic was so bad that I decided to return to the hospital and tell them.
I was weeping because I couldn't sleep and I told them that worryingly, I felt like I was going to do something serious if I didn't get any sleep. They admitted me and sedated me safely so I could sleep.
I didn’t know what was happening to me. I was just on edge and thought it was lack of sleep. My partner didn’t understand it either and thought if I slept then I would feel much better, but it wasn’t that simple.
After being in hospital for a few days I discharged myself so that I could get home to my then three children. They gave me sleeping pills and that was that.
But no matter what, I just felt extremely stressed at the slightest thing everything got to me and I felt so down… As if I had this black cloud over me.
I felt anxious and tired and I couldn't relax or concentrate. I just wanted this feeling to go away and it wouldn't.
Initially I spoke to some friends about it and they said to me it sounds like prenatal depression.
I then went to the doctor and she offered me anti-depressants which I really didn't want as I was pregnant and scared that I would get hooked on them – or the baby would as I had read that that could happen.
So they put me on a waiting list for counseling as I was pregnant and high priority I would be seen straight away. But the wait was too much and my situation was too urgent so I went and got private counseling which was very expensive.
The thing was, I felt totally helpless and it didn’t seem to help but after trying hypnotherapy that helped ease things eventually.
I had been told I was at high risk of post-natal depression once I had had the baby and this really put me off the birth.
I was scared that I wasn't going to feel a bond with my baby and wasn't going to be able to look after it. So it was a really anxious time.
I feel as though pregnant women will sometimes try to continue and sweep it under the carpet because they don’t know what it is and why they feel so bad. The extreme cases are eventually picked up.
I had heard that people suffered from it but I didn’t know what the symptoms were and didn’t realize it made you feel so bad.
Now having suffered from it and read up on it I feel as more emphasis should be given to it as so many women do go through it.
Make sure to SHARE Sophia's story to spread awareness about prenatal depression!
