Page 11 - Flathead Beacon // 5.18.16

NEWS
A Tale of Postpartum Depression
Local health care professionals held “Postpartum Tales” workshop for women who have experienced mental illness as a new mother
BY CLARE MENZEL OF THE BEACON
The day before Mother’s Day, 10 women gathered at North Valley Hospi- tal in White sh. Among them was April Coen, the mother of 11-year-old Grace and 7-year-old Micah. Though she could have spent hours gushing about her two beautiful children, she had a di erent story to tell that afternoon.
The mothers were gathered for Post- partum Tales, a storytelling workshop with Missoula-based activist and per- former Melissa Bangs, who had visited White sh in March on tour with her one-woman storytelling non ction per- formance, “Playing Monopoly with God.” The show chronicles her long journey through postpartum psychosis mania so severe that she was hospitalized.
Bangs returned this spring to help other women share their own stories. The statistics vary, but according to the Cen- ter for Disease Control and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecol- ogists, anywhere from 5 to 25 percent of new mothers will experience postpar- tum depression. Yet a lack of awareness means that some mothers never under- stand what’s happening to them, and oth- ers, feeling guilty or ashamed, keep quiet.
The North Valley Hospital Birth Cen- ter hosted the workshop to help mothers heal in a safe, empowering space and as a way to open dialogue about postpar- tum depression in the Flathead Valley. Cindy Walp, Director of the hospital’s Birth Center, said that the rst step in addressing mental illness in new moth- ers is “ guring out the scope of postpar- tum depression in Montana.” Listening to the stories provided Walp, who expe- rienced some postpartum depression herself, with more insight into the often traumatic experience.
“It was fabulous,” she said. “It was very bene cial to the participants, and many said they would be willing to come forward later to share their stories with the sta .”
April Coen, one of the women inspired to share her experience, is a lifelong Kalispell resident who performs dou- ble-proxy marriages for military mem- bers. Like Bangs, she had been hospital- ized, about six weeks after giving birth to a 9 pound, 11 ounce Grace at 7 p.m. on July 22, 2004.
“She came out perfect,” Coen said.
Then the next morning, Coen woke up crying and couldn’t stop.
“I would hold her, and I didn’t feel con- nected to her,” she said. “Like it could have been someone else’s baby I was hold- ing. I didn’t feel like she was mine. I had concerns, like, ‘This isn’t right, I should be happy about this, I’m pretty sure.’”
In a Lamaze class, Coen and her
North Valley Hospital Birth Center Manager Cindy Walp. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
husband Chris had brie y learned about postpartum depression, and Coen knew that history of mental illness and self-in- jury increased her risks. (The list of fac- tors placing moms at a higher risk also includes being a single mother, an “older” mom over 35, or a survivor of abuse). Still, Coen hoped that she just had “baby blues,” which can cause women to feel anxious or upset during the rst few days after childbirth.
Postpartum depression, however, refers to the persisting, all-consuming feelings of sadness, anxiety, and despair caused by sharp hormonal changes. In severe cases, such as the recent Bozeman tragedy in which a woman shot her hus- band and 6-month-old son before turn- ing the gun on herself, depression can induce violent behaviors.
“For moms that do have those kinds of thoughts, there’s more stigma,” Coen said. “The mothers think, ‘Nobody’s going to understand this—even I don’t understand why I want to hurt my child...’ There’s no logic to it.”
Coen said with relief that she never entertained thoughts of hurting her baby, but noted, “every time I was around her, my body was trying to get her away from me. It was in rushes, my body felt like when you’re dreaming and you’re falling o a cli and you jerk yourself awake.”
Toward the end of summer 2004, Coen was admitted to the Pathways Treatment Center for one week – the psychiatric
ward’s the rst nursing patient – and began a long but successful journey of counseling and testing medication with a psychiatrist. She says that while her OB/GYN and Grace’s pediatrician were “amazing ... it was only because I was so vocal, I think. I was desperate for some- one to x me, desperate to help.”
“I kind of wished that after Grace was born, that when they noticed I couldn’t stop crying before I left the hospital, a little more investigation could have been done,” she continued. “I think there could be a lot more education.”
Walp said that earlier identi cation through more rigorous assessment is one of her main goals for her nursing sta . She also hopes that greater awareness of the condition and its symptoms, as well as better organization of the resources available for mothers, will contribute to more e ective care.
“Awareness in the government is coming up. So hopefully we can get more funding. But it might take a while to shape this and put it all together,” she said of her plans to bring more training to the Flathead and organize a regular support group.
“So many women just think, ‘I’m a bad mom, I should be happy,’” Walp said. “We’re trying to bring [postpartum depression] into the open. It’s a medical condition, a psychological condition. We can help.”
clare@ atheadbeacon.com
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