Antenatal depression

[JumpingIn]

I feel like I'm developing antenatal depression Anyone else?

I'm so utterly ecstatic to be pregnant and I have no rational reason to feel like this. It started during my worries in week 4 and has just been getting worse. I want to just be in bed all day, I don't want to have to deal with the world. It feels purely physical and hormonal as I'm still totally over the moon inside about this wonderful blessing, but I can't express my happiness and keep crying instead or simply being too numb to express anything.

I have suffered from depressive bouts pre pregnancy so I do recognise this...I just didn't expect it at all because I've been depression-free for years and this is the thing I've wanted most in life for a very long time.

I think a big factor is all these thoughts of miscarriage or complications I can't seem to stop having.

 

[sally88]

I feel really down in the dumps too hun, I feel exhausted, my head is killing me, i can't seem to get on top of the nausea and vomiting and fed up of having no appetite at all.

As you said, I feel so lucky and blessed to be pregnant but feel so crappy is really getting me down.
Your not alone xx

 

[smoore]

Have you spoken to your doctor? I would urge you to do so, mostly because of you mentioning having depression in the past. *hugs*

 

[jalicek11]

I know exactly how you feel, I have suffered with depression in the past too and now that im pregnant I feel it creeping back. The worrying is awful, overrall im trying to tell myself 'what happens, happens' and I cant do anything about it. Its funny, before I found out I was pregnant I was begging for my period out of desperation I felt so crappy! Tried for years for this and it feels really hard to show im happy. You definitely arent alone, do your best not to dwell on things, do little things you enjoy to try and distract yourself, also your hormones will balance out a bit at some point and will hopefully be a bit easier to manage. Good luck! Xx

 

[tulip1975]

I know how you feel. I had major bouts of depression in my late teens and early twenties, and was ok for 10+ years after. Now I've felt depressed my entire pregnancy (15 weeks in).

 

[zerknuellt]

Hey,
i fell like this as well. It goes as far as regretting getting pregnant, wishing the baby away. I feel terribly disconnected from my partner and DD (3 years old), which imposes a horrible sense of guilt on me.
I remember feeling like this for the first three months with my last successful pregnancy, after that my hormones balanced out, and i was almost back to my old self. This part to be most difficult aspect of pregnancy for me, by far. Please take care of yourself and talk to your OB!

 

[amaryllis]

I've been having difficult mornings for week. I feel like I'm going to lose the baby. I just sit in bed all the time. Because I'm so ill, I haven't been able to write any of my novels or stories, or paint, or sketch, or even read involved novels. Articles with pictures and tv shows are all I can process, and for a creative woman like me, I feel half-dead!

I managed to read some Edgar Rice Burroughs the other day which was a fun diversion.

I have clinical depression and I'm currently still on my pills (waiting for the right time to discuss possibly going off them to my doctor, we touched on it already but we're just trying to get me through the first trimester at this point). Maybe they are helping me a bit, but I still have my dark moments.

Things that help me:

- Diversion. Life saver, this one. Distract myself, keep my mind busy.
- Going outside for a walk, even if it's a short one. Very important.
- Contact with animals, pets, cute things. I find they lift my spirits.
- Talking to friends, even if it's just on chat or over the internet. Contact with my social circle is so vital to me right now, it makes me feel invigorated and positive.
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. There are thought forms and processes that can help deal with various unhelpful thoughts, particularly ones related to worries you can't change. There are even good strategies for depression.
- Meditation. Non-spiritual, breath-based focused meditation of about ten minutes can REALLY help. My favourite is a guy called Eric Harrison.

Anyway, those are things that help me. They may not help everyone, cause everyone is different. Good luck, ladies.

 

[kazine]

I'm suffering it and think I have all the way through just didn't notice until about 3 weeks ago! A bit bitter because I feel like if I'd noticed, my pregnancy might have been different. Hopefully since you've noticed this early you won't spend your whole pregnancy in bed like I did I was just thinking I was unlucky and had a bad pregnancy/no energy but I too have a history of depression.

I have a diary up in the pregnancy journals section being pretty brutally honest about how I've felt throughout the pregnancy. Trying to get help now but they don't make it easy.