EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) – The national trial of Lindsay Clancy is raising questions about women’s mental health and support for new mothers. One in nine women will experience postpartum depression or anxiety, and many are still afraid to ask for help.
Brianna Chambers and her husband own 2 Roots Art and Wine Gallery in downtown Eau Claire. She is also a mother to 2-year-old Lillian and 9-month-old Dorothy.
“Beautiful. Just nothing like it, like almost euphoric. Getting to hold your baby, you’re crying, they’re crying, just like out of a movie,” Chambers said, describing her first delivery.
“And then the second time, it was nothing like that,” Chambers said.
Struggling after her second birth
Chambers said she felt embarrassed to admit she was struggling, especially the first four months after Dorothy was born.
“I truly think a lot of women are afraid to speak up and share what they’re feeling in those times because they want to be looked at a certain way,” Chambers said.
Chambers said she thought she would be more experienced when she had Dorothy, but it ended up being harder than she thought.
“I was worrying about a lot of things to the point where I just couldn’t sit down and like enjoy my time with the girls and that was really hard. I wanted to just feel normal and feel like I was enjoying it. I just kind of felt like all the time going by and like it was slipping away and I just wasn’t really in it and enjoying it the way I did with my first,” Chambers said.
Understanding the warning signs
Licensed clinical social worker Missy Jenneman specializes in perinatal mental health. She said the “baby blues” affect 80% of new moms.
“It’s very hormonally driven. Symptoms tend to spike between days three and five, but then symptoms will gradually improve. If we get to the 14-day postpartum point and symptoms are not improving, that is a warning sign that there is something more serious going on,” Jenneman said.
Warning signs include mood swings, crying spells, trouble sleeping, trouble bonding with a baby, or harmful thoughts. Mood and anxiety disorders are the most common complication of childbirth, affecting 1 in 5 women.
“Those are ego dystonic, meaning women who are experiencing thoughts that contribute to depression or anxiety or obsessive thoughts, they’re bothered by them. They find them harmful. It’s scary. It’s like, why would I think that?” Jenneman said.
Postpartum psychosis is rare
In rare cases, women can experience postpartum psychosis, which affects 1 to 2 out of every 1,000 births.
“And then postpartum psychosis is ego syntonic, meaning they are not recognizing that it’s a weird thought. They’re genuinely believing that their baby, we need to save them from this terrible world,” Jenneman said.
Jenneman stresses that if a mom is experiencing postpartum psychosis, it does not mean she will harm her children.
“And I also want to point out that not everyone with postpartum psychosis harms their children or themselves. So, it can occur. It can with proper medical intervention be treated. It just has to be diagnosed,” Jenneman said.
Finding support
Chambers attended local support groups hosted by Mama Bear Family Care. Chambers’ husband and other mothers also became her support system.
“Like physically and emotionally showing up. Waking up in the middle of the night with me and the baby, because he knew it was hard for me. And then in other ways, we’re really thankful. We have a huge community of people through the gallery that we’ve gotten to know, especially through our first pregnancy. In our first pregnancy, they started a meal train for us, and people were literally bringing us meals for like the first two months after our daughter was born,” Chambers said.
Chambers said the support made a huge difference.
“You feel like you’re just struggling and there’s really not a way out. Like you’re just going to have to suffer through it. And I 100% believe like now that I’m not like experiencing like postpartum anxiety or depression, like I do not believe that’s true that you have to struggle through it alone,” Chambers said.
“If a mom is feeling that they’re overwhelmed 100% of the day, 80% of the day, 70% of the day, that’s too much,” Jenneman added.
If you or someone you know needs help, reach out to your local health care provider.
Fathers affected too
Jenneman said postpartum mood and anxiety disorders can also affect dads, impacting about 1 in 10 men.
“How men look is sometimes different. It can look more like avoiding responsibilities. Maybe they really focus on work or focus on gaming or they’re out at the bar just abdicating their parenting role more so, like avoiding it,” Jenneman said.
“We kind of need to normalize sharing what it’s really like — that two things can be true. Like you can be really excited and really love your kids and be a really great mom, and be really struggling and having a hard time and need more support,” Chambers said.
Jenneman also pointed to Postpartum Support International as a free resource for families.
“Moms deserve to be healthy and happy. There’s no sense in suffering if we don’t have to,” Jenneman said.
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