Pregnancy and Depression

• At least 80% of women experience some type of major emotional changes during pregnancy (more than just mood swings). 
• 1 in 5 women will suffer from full on depression at some point in their pregnancy. 
• As many as 25% of women will suffer from some level of depression after delivery (called postpartum)-and this is only counting the women that are self reported. Who knows what the number would be if it included the women who don't know they are suffering from postpartum depression or are too embarrassed or ashamed to admit it. There are 3 levels of postpartum depression and the most important way to alleviate the depression is to recognize and address the symptoms:

Level 1: Baby Blues. Many women have the baby blues in the days after childbirth. If you have the baby blues, you may:

• Have mood swings
• Feel sad, anxious, or overwhelmed
• Have crying spells
• Lose your  appetite
• Have trouble sleeping

The baby blues most often go away within a few days or a week. The symptoms are not severe and do not need treatment.

Level 2: Postpartum Depression. The symptoms of postpartum depression last longer and are more severe. Postpartum depression can begin anytime within the first year after childbirth. If you have postpartum depression, you may have any of the symptoms of depression listed above. Symptoms may also include:

• Thoughts of hurting the baby
• Thoughts of hurting yourself
• Not having any interest in the baby

Postpartum depression needs to be treated by a doctor.

Level 3-Postpartum psychosis. This level of depression is rare. It occurs in about 1 to 4 out of every 1,000 births. It usually begins in the first 2 weeks after childbirth. Women who have bipolar disorder or another mental health problem called schizoaffective  disorder have a higher risk for postpartum psychosis. Symptoms may include:

• Seeing things that aren't there
• Feeling confused
• Having rapid mood swings
• Trying to hurt yourself or your baby

I see these symptoms in women at work all the time and it is nothing to be ashamed about! Pregnancy and caring for an infant are incredibly difficult things to deal with and there is no reason you shouldn't be able to step forward and ask for help. The sooner women can recognize the symptoms the sooner they can get relief for the negative feelings they're having and turn motherhood back into the happy, beautiful experience it was meant to be.

Halfway There! Update

Wish I had started doing this sooner! I will definitely update this every few weeks from now on.

Pregnancy Update

How far along? 21 Weeks

Total weight gain: 10 lbs gained (20ish to go!)
Maternity clothes? only maternity pants, everything else I'm wearing is still regular (okay, really it's all Forever 21)
Stretch marks? no (fingers crossed, my mom didn't get them...)
Sleep: over thought it at first and have found I actually sleep better with only my head pillow and one knee pillow!
Best moment this week: having people finally notice my belly! I love not looking just kind of chubby anymore
Miss Anything? having a will to exercise, going an hour without peeing (WORST), an occasional margarita, being able to shave my legs/put on boots without it feeling like a workout
Movement: lots of movement! Titus is very active and here's the thing, I'm not afraid to admit that it feels really weird like an alien is trying to escape from my body. Of course I love feeling him move, but it's also kind of freaky!!
Food cravings: CONDIMENTS! I have been craving mustard, marinara, Heinz 57... I will choose my meals based around which condiment I can use with it lol. I also drink like 3 glasses of milk a day and have recently picked up a craving for Nutty Bars!
Anything making you queasy or sick: too much perfume/hairspray smell, chugging too much water or eating too fast in the morning
Gender: Boy!
Labor Signs: HA, no thankfully!
Symptoms: A little heartburn, occasional tiredness, lots and lots and lots and lots of peeing
Belly Button in or out? still in!
Wedding rings on or off? on, they seem looser than ever, maybe just because it is cold?
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! I am feeling really great right now
Looking forward to: the Holidays! it will be so fun to have pictures of me with Titus in my belly to compare to next year when he will be almost EIGHT months old!

GENDER REVEAL

Okay everyone! Here it is. Once and for all, you are about to find out what we're having!
On Tuesday Garland and I went to the doctor for my 20 week checkup (yes, I said 20 weeks, am I seriously halfway there?! ashrfskddlsfjkalsfjslrijeoisdlkfjraslvnlvmdlfvkawefo) and we got to have an ultrasound to see our little strawberry! As most of you know, we had an early ultrasound done at my job at 16 weeks and had an inkling of what our baby would be. But since it was still early, we wanted to wait to announce it until we were really REALLY sure. As expected, the 20 week ultrasound confirmed our earlier thoughts!


Here's what's really cool (hold on, I promise I'm getting to the good part): They gave us a video of the live ultrasound so you can see Baby Autry moving in real time! It is so amazing to be able to show our friends, family, and cell kids what our baby is really doing (pictures just don't do it justice and can be really confusing). Unfortunately, I am not tech savvy enough to get it straight off the disc and onto YouTube (this takes some file converting that I am no bueno at) so you will have to deal with the iPhone version (that's what these smart phones are made for, right?).


So..... The video is about a minute and a half and it shows things like the head, arms, legs, spine, feet, and of course..... A WINKY!!!! Baby Autry is A BOY! So on May 1st we will welcome Titus James Autry to the world.
Watch and enjoy :)

Unplanned Pregnancies: Are they Unwanted?

The other day I was reading my Glamour magazine and came across an article that highlighted a study about the attitudes of young women toward unplanned pregnancies. It was surprising to me to see that so many young women did not want to get pregnant, yet still chose to forego any contraceptive methods. It was even more surprising that their reasoning was, "well, if I get pregnant that wouldn't be the worst thing." The study showed that because our society is so career oriented a lot of young women don't feel like they can start a family anytime soon, but yet they still have the yearning for a family. By pushing women so hard to be equal to men in every respect, are we pushing their natural instinct to parent out of focus? If this is true, then the ones who are really going to lose are the children coming out of these unplanned pregnancies.

Study published in Glamour Magazine: Are You Playing Baby Roulette?

Study done by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy

Surveyed 897 women between the ages of 18-39

• 50% of American pregnancies are unplanned, and ¾ of those pregnancies are in women 29 and younger.
• Women with a college degree are more likely to experience an unintended pregnancy than those who haven’t attended college.
• The number of unmarried women who had sex in the previous three months with no contraception rose by 36% between 1995-2008.
• While 86% of unmarried young women feel that pregnancy should be planned, only about half are using birth control consistently (however, 88% said it is important that they not get pregnant right now).
• The study found that young women have a strong longing for motherhood: More than half of them said they would like to be a mom right now “if things in their life were different.”
• And even among those who said it was important to avoid pregnancy, 20% of women (and 43% of men) admitted that they’d be at least a little happy if they found out they were going to have a baby.
• Women who conceive through a one night stand are most likely to abort (19% of never married women who have an abortion say they had “no relationship at all” with the father).
• 65% of women said that one reason they didn’t use contraception when they had sex was that their partner would “be there” for them if they ended up getting pregnant.
• “There’s this expectation that you’re with the guy you’re going to have children with anyway, so if you start a little earlier, it’s not a problem—maybe it will even accelerate the wedding bells.”
• 60% of cohabiting couples who have a baby break up within five years; if the pregnancy was unplanned, the odds that you’ll part ways roughly doubles.
• 44% of women ages 18-29 have the misguided belief that “it doesn’t matter whether you use birth control or not; when it is your time to get pregnant it will happen.” A majority also believed the following misconceptions:
• Long-term use of hormonal methods like the Pill will likely lead to cancer
• The IUD is bound to cause infection
• Contraception in general, even the pill, is highly ineffective
• 59% of women think they could be infertile and therefore cannot get pregnant
• National Center for Health Statistics reports only 8% of 18-29 year olds actually are infertile
• Mothers to be who have an unplanned pregnancy are less likely to get proper prenatal care