In a dillema whether to have another child or not.

[peggy]

Hello
It has been 2 and a half years since I gave birth to my daughter and then suffered with pp 6 weeks later. I was admitted to a mental hospital for the first 2 nights which was horrific and then moved to a mother and baby unit for 6 weeks. I was sectioned under the mental health act. The whole experience was traumatic for myself, my husband and my parents who were all very supportive. My husband was under huge stress as he had to manage his business (he runs a garage), every day come and see me and our baby who was very demanding at that time, taking over her care as soon as he walked through the door, and coping with our teenage daughter. My recovery felt slow and I put on weight due to increase in appetite from the medication which made me feel even less confident.
Last year in October I had a relapse probably caused by stress and sleepless nights worrying about our teenage daughter for various reasons. Up till then I had actually been feeling fine and had lost weight too. So now I am back on orlanzapine. I dont like it as it makes me sleepy and lethargic but I am coping ok. My teenager left school and now lives with my Mum where she has started school and is doing well. She is 17 and a half.
We originally wanted to have 2 children close together in age because they could play together. Now I am considering the options for getting pregnant again. My heart says do it, my head says no!!! My husband is not keen. I could only realisticly consider it with his support and that of my parents as I would want them to help so that I could rest in the latter stages of pregnancy and after the birth. I have been told there is a 50% chance of me getting ill again after another birth. I am meant to be on my meds until spring next year so I am thinking wait till then, then see how we feel. I have an appointment to discuss with the psychiatrist soon. What do people think?   

[fanacapants]

Hello Peggy,

It took me a total of 2 years to fully recover from pp. My son is 3 years old now and I am still having re-lapses on and off. I was med free for 6 months and recently (last month) got stressed and went high and experienced a mild psychotic episode so I am now back on a very small dose of medication (olanzapine). I completely understand where you are coming from about the medication. It makes me feel lethargic and makes me gain weight too.

We are going to wait until around the time our son is going to start school before we consider having another baby. Stress definitively effects my symptoms and can cause me to experience weird things and give me panic attacks. I have been told by professionals that there is a 99% chance that i would get pp if I had another baby.

Maybe taking to the psychiatrist will be good for you. Just remember its important that you are well and mentally in a fit state before trying for another baby. If I'm honest, I don't think having another baby is something you should rush into without lots of thought. Forgive me for saying so, but like you I've had pp and on top of the whole stress of having a baby having pp really is horrendous!

My worry would be that I end up having psychotic symptoms when pregnant and then having to take medication which I would really strongly disagree with, but I'm not sure of the chances of this happening.

I'm sure whatever you decide will be the right decision for you and your family.

Regards S x

[finkitham]

i has pp 4 years ago, because of circumstances at the time ie homeless and my mum being murdered while pregnant i opted for adoption, however every single day i miss my baby and think about him all the time. Im still on anti psychotics, clopixal and now have a roof over my head and stability which is making me crave motherhood all the time. The way i see it is we are struck with the worst illness possible thus why should we have to live in fear and not forfill our dreams, thats just punishing our selfs.

[finkitham]

even more. If you have a fighting spirit and know youll fight your hardest to conquer lifes demons then go for it. Youve done it all ready twice, you can do it! they do say face your fears, dont let this horrible illness stop you from furfilling your dreams, yes you could get ill again but so long as you know its worth the risk and youll be a fighter then dont let anything stop you. Goodluck and please keep us updated.

[fiona]

I suffered from similar pp to yourself.  After lots of dilemma & discussion with psychiatrist, we started trying for our 2nd child when our little boy was 3 years old.    Happily our beautiful daughter was born a year later and the age difference is lovely.  I decided against taking the lamotrogene (mood stabiliser) when I was pregnant as there was a small risk of cleft pallet.  I had been off Olanzipine for aprox 4 months before she was conceived.    I was given a 70-80% chance of having pp again (due to previous psychotic episodes before the pp), but there was a 50% risk of having another psychotic episode regardless of a 2nd birth... we figured that we wanted the child and were willing to risk the pp again.  I took the view that I would get it and we planned as much help as possible - saved up so we could have a live in maternity nurse for the 1st month, planned to stay with my mother-in-law for 6 mths and took olanzipine immediatly after the birth - and for 12 mths after.
Happily, there was only small periods of depression and no sign of the pp.  Our daughter was born with Down's Syndrome and had to have open heart surgery at 4 months so circumstances could have easily led to illness!!  Psychiatrist was someone I liked and trusted and that really helped having someone at the end of the phone to talk to if things got wobbly.
good luck

[Debra]

Hi Fiona

I just read your comment today, and thought what an incredible story. You've been through an awful lot and seem a very brave and positive person.

I have a boy and girl 3 years apart also. I had PP after my boy, who is now 12, but didn't have it again when I had my little girl. I'm so glad I went on to have a second child.  I hope our comments will help Peggy.

Debbie x