Understanding Your Moods When You're Expecting
Emotions, Mental Health, and Happiness -- Before, During, and After Pregnancy

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Table of Contents

Lucy J. Puryear -- a mother of four -- is a pioneering expert in women’s emotional health before, during, and after pregnancy. Through stories from her own practice, she lifts the lid off little-discussed feelings that are virtually universal for pregnant women. She explains exactly what is happening to your hormonal system trimester by trimester, including what she calls the postpartum “fourth trimester.” Dr. Puryear’s clear and compassionate advice on reducing the risk of postpartum depression will be of special interest, with this issue of urgent concern both in the media and in our homes.

Here, and throughout her book, Dr. Puryear illustrates why knowledge is power when it comes to the overwhelming hormonal floods that accompany pregnancy and postpartum. Understanding Your Moods When You’re Expecting includes reassuring, expert advice on:

• how to deal with the normal fears most women face

• making a birthing plan for emotional well-being

• how and why to get essential rest

• real-life bonding with your baby

• eating disorders and OCD

• how to make decisions about necessary medications during pregnancy

A book as essential to a woman’s emotional health during pregnancy as What to Expect When You’re Expecting is to her physical health.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1. On the Way to Motherhood
I Think I Want to Be Pregnant 11
Working Through Family Relationships 16
Too Much of a Good Thing 25

2. The First Trimester
The Conspiracy of Silence 30
Loss of Separateness 33
Hormones and Their Effects on Your Moods 35
Loss of Control 39
Pregnant While Parenting 42
TIPS: To Tell or Not to Tell; What to Read,
Whom to Believe 45

3. The Second Trimester
Not-So-Equal Partners 51
Sex and the Pregnant Parent 56
Losing Control of Your Shape 60
How Can I Do This to Number One? 63
TIPS: There Are Two Parents; Eating for Two;
Sex Specifics 68

4. The Third Trimester
When Will This Be Over? 72
I Can Do It Myself, Thank You 74
Birthing Plans 76
Is It My Hormones or Something More Serious? 78
It’s a Family Decision 85
TIPS: Putting Your Needs First; The Baby Shower;
Your Postpartum Plan 91

5. The Big Day
Bonding 101
Right-Away Emotions 105
The Circle of Life 106
TIPS: Waiting for Baby; Make the Delivery Yours;
The First Few Hours 108

6. Bringing Baby Home
Why It’s Called the Fourth Trimester 113
Stay in Your Pajamas 118
What About Breastfeeding? 122
Nurturing Yourself 130
TIPS: Visitors; A Bedside Cooler; Diapers Close
at Hand; Sleeping Arrangements; Forget
Fashion; Sibling Survival 13

7. The New Normal
The Good Enough Mother 140
Ambivalence 143
Your Relationship with Your Partner 150
Returning to Work 156
TIPS: Good Enough; One Night a Week;
The Best of Both Worlds 160

8. When More Help Is Needed
Baby Blues 165
Postpartum Depression 168
Postpartum Psychosis 179
Postpartum Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder 182
Nonpharmacologic Treatment Options 187

9. Where Do We Go from Here?
Support Groups 196
Mother-Infant Units 197
Standards of Care 197
National Changes 198
Conclusion 199

Appendix
My Postpartum Plan 205
FDA Drug Categories for Use in Pregnancy 207
Examples of Medications Used in Pregnancy 208
Potential Adverse Effects: SSRIs 208
Nutritional Supplements and “Natural” Drugs
During Pregnancy 210
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) 217
Postpartum Symptoms Checklist 220
Resources 224

Index

June 2007
Published by Houghton Mifflin
hardcover / 256 pages
ISBN-13: 9780618341078
ISBN-10: 0618341072