CC3 - Get to the Point - PPD

Has anyone heard of the term PPD?

It is Post Partum Depression"

Good morning TMOD, toastmasters, and guests.

Having a baby is a heavenly feeling. Women experience a mixture of unusual emotions when they have a baby. Women experience an unstable emotional state of mind after delivery which is called postpartum depression. It is said that 20% of women suffer from PPD all over the world. But this data is not true as many women prefer to keep it to themselves and they succeed in coming out of it in a few months.

When I was expecting, I was not even aware of a term called PPD. I was maintaining a strict healthy diet due to which my weight, BP and sugar were intact. C section was the last thing I thought I would end up with. I chose one of the celebrated hospitals in Chennai but little did I know that nobody showed hospitality to the patients there. On July 19^th 2011 I was admitted in the hospital at 5 PM as I did not encounter the labor. After that things were totally out of our control. 24 hours of painful procedures were carried out which ended up with no success. If it involved only my life I would have literally ran away from that place and stayed at home waiting for destiny to decide my fate. But I could not do that obviously because of another life involved.

The next day at 5:30 they decided to carry out an emergency c section. Anyone with a uniform inside the hospital looked like a villain to me. I could experience a sense of fear looking at the people with green uniforms inside the operation theatre. something I had never felt before in my life. As the local anesthesia given in the spinal cord did not work, I was given general anesthesia. For a few minutes I was unconscious during the surgery and then I became semiconscious. I could see people around me but I could not talk or move. I was overwhelmed when they finally announced that it is a girl. Then I was taken to the “observation ward” where patients were observed for 4 hours after the surgery. That 4 hours of trauma cannot be explained in words. I was shivering of cold and I could not tell that as I was semiconscious. There was nobody around to give me a blanket or reduce the AC. Nobody was allowed inside. I could not see my husband, mom or my new born. To make it worse there was an elderly person near my bed shouting loudly out of pain. I could clearly hear her words in Hindi. She was saying please give me some injection and kill me I can't bare this pain. Her loud cries went into deaf ears. Later most of them including the elderly lady were taken to the wards. And finally I was the last to be taken to the ward at 11:30 that night.

I would say that was the most painful night I have ever lived. At 3 am the effect of epidural started reducing. There was extreme pain in the sutures. When I called for the nurse, she rubbed her eyes and told me to just sleep and forget about the pain. Obviously I Could not sleep. The next day I was so excited to see my baby for the first time. She was so cute. I was able to forget all my pains looking at her innocent face. Before starting to walk I was discharged. I needed a wheel chair to move from my ward to the gate to reach the car.

After reaching home I could not sleep for more than 1 hour continuously even during the night time. At 10 pm I would put her to sleep and she would wake up at 11. Again at 12. It would go on like that. The pain and frustration due to lack of sleep made me depressed. I could not be cheerful to anybody around. I was always in a sad or angry state of mind without any reason. My husband and my mom were very supportive during those tough days. My mom took care of the house hold and cooking. My husband took care of the baby as much as possible. In spite of the immense support from everyone I could not come out of the distress. Those were days of power failures. Every day 2 hours of power cut and monthly 2 times of power shutdown increased my agony to the core. I had to sit with the baby without the fan chasing the mosquitoes around her all the time. My child loved to cry every 1 hour like all other babies. Consoling her and putting her to sleep was the toughest challenge for me. This went on for 6 months after which she learnt to sleep the whole night without waking up. I was waiting for that day. Slowly my sleeping habits became normal. It took 6 months for me to come out of PPD. I thought I was the only person to experience this agony, but I was surprised when my friends told me similar stories.

Finally, I would like to say that bringing up an infant after a C-section is not a cake walk and cannot be handled all alone by a woman. So please be aware of PPD, understand and support your wives or daughters. Do not allow PPD to last for long for the woman of your life.

Thank you!!