Exploring The Emotions Of Postpartum Period (Managing Emotions After Labour, Child Birth)
About 60-80% women report feeling at least a little blue at least sometimes during the happiest time of their lives, this is very common and includes sadness, crying, irritability, restlessness and anxiety. Levels of estrogen and progesterone drop miraculously after birth and this offers a rationale for the way that a woman feels after bringing the baby home.
This is a real thing, as soon as the baby is born, friends and relatives swarm all over the baby doing baby-boo and nobody sits by your side to inquire about your own health. In addition to this looking after a baby can be a new-found daunting process altogether; the nappy change, the baby baths, cord care and the midnight feeding and the constant crying is something no one is really prepared for. If you’re still hospitalized it can be even worse, because lying on the white bed amidst the white washed walls and sheets you feel even less in control. You have to step back and absorb the trial and error method, there is so much you cannot know, and will only unravel as you pass through your own stages of being a mother. Breastfeeding difficulties can also be a real problem, which include sore nipples, engorged breasts and constant self-doubt about nurturing your child properly, till this becomes second nature to you, you just have to accept your fate and take it one moment at a time.
There may also be a sense of mourning inside you for who you used to be before this baby came into your life, more career-oriented? More creative or a hands-on person? Whatever it was, it will have to lay low for a while till you find yourself in a better place mentally. You might also feel like your looks aren’t up to the mark! The baby bump or sagging, engorged breasts or fluid filled legs may make you feel out of your head for some while, but you need to get out of it, and stop with the negative-thinking trail, think positive, you have a baby! A whole new life is ahead of you, focus on that for a while.