The Postpartum Breakdown
I’d had a friend warn me about “The Postpartum Breakdown” being a real thing. Apparently a few days after you have the baby and your body is releasing a crazy amount of hormones there’s a need to have a release through a deep crying session.
I’m not talking baby blues or postpartum depression, just an immediate release from pent up feelings and hormones. For many it’s legit, the baby is fussy, the stress of being a parent, or just the pain of recovery triggers a day of needing to release all the pent-up emotion.
My mom had one over finances, she realized my dad was still a student and she couldn’t work full-time anymore. She knew this ahead of time, but the stress of this though hit her in the hospital and she just needed to cry over the fact my dad worked at the recreational building at BYU.
I have a coworker who returned from maternity leave just two weeks before I left. She let me know hers was ridiculous- her baby head-butted her and they both got upset and she needed to go cry for a good 20 minutes in her room.
I wasn’t sure this was going to hit me. We’d had a rough go with nursing in the start and I seemed to release the frustration and fear one night in the hospital, and I did cry because my baby was screaming in pain and an aggressive lactation consultant late at night was making things worse instead of better. I thought maybe this was my big release. But alas, there was a ridiculous day the day after we came home that definitely counts as my big postpartum breakdown.
I looked at the tiny baby feet in my hand while holding him, and I realized they looked just a little bigger than they did the day he was born. It dawned on me, he was only going to be this very tiny newborn for a few weeks, and we were already out of the hospital- he was going to grow up faster than I could have ever thought. Queue the water flow of tears!
Jacob was working from home this day and ran in asking if I was okay and if the baby blues were hitting. I told him I couldn’t handle that these little feet were going to get huge and that I only had a few days to really enjoy them. He smiled and told me I’m a sweet mom and hugged me while I ugly cried for a solid 30 minutes over the fact that my newborn time was limited.
And then I thought of this movie, and realized I’m not the only one who has had a postpartum breakdown for the very same reason!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84DLT4yRcy4]
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Mine is always the 3rd day after delivery! so crazy cuz I know I'm not being rational and I can see it but I can't control the emotions that happen! The joys of motherhood.
My boys are 15 and 9… this is only the beginning of the tears, unfortunately. You are absolutely right, soak it in as much as you can! <3
Postpartum, man. Don't talk to me about anything other than flowers, sunshine, and free meal cards for the first month.
Those stressful times in the hospital trying to breastfeed our baby is really hard!! Including when they kind of stress it on you that you have to feed them, and if it's over 6 hours the nurses start worrying, making us mom's worry. Also including when baby's, well my baby girl was sleeping and did not want to wake up to eat, she wasn't hungry enough. I too cried over the same thing as you did, and think that our first borns were both born on the same day, just hours apart.
Is just so hard sometimes to keep it all in! I didn't have postpartum depression but I had some serious baby blues for a couple of weeks after Connors birth. When Jared would get home from work it was a celebration when I could say “I didn't cry today!”
Is just so hard sometimes to keep it all in! I didn't have postpartum depression but I had some serious baby blues for a couple of weeks after Connors birth. When Jared would get home from work it was a celebration when I could say “I didn't cry today!”
I'm expecting my first baby in about a month, and I've really enjoyed following along with your pregnancy journey. I just know the tears are going to hit me full force after my little one arrives. It seems like I've been extra emotional these last couple of weeks as we prepare for her arrival. I was tearing up just reading this post and thinking about my own baby growing up too fast, my baby who isn't even here yet! Congratulations on your sweet baby boy. He's absolutely precious!!
I've seen that youtube video before and I completely agree with it! My son is 15 months old today and he is growing up way to fast for me!
Haha, that YouTube clip is my favorite. I had a mini breakdown when Bensen turned 5 months because I realized how big he was getting and missed those little newborn snuggles. I'll have to e-mail you my postpartum breakdown because I don't think it's appropriate for your comment section 😉