Brooke Shields - Down Came the Rain, My Journey Through Postpartum Depression.
I would like to use this post to say "Thank you, VERY, VERY MUCH!" to Brooke Shields for writing this beautiful book. I luckily did not suffer from Postpartum Depression, but I did have a bit of the "baby blues" soon after my son was born. And even though that is not remotely close to what women with postpartum depression go through, it is nevertheless scary. Very scary. And it is really hard to talk to people, even close friends, about the conflicting emotions and thoughts going through one's head. And wondering if you're a bad mother for not feeling uniquely, exuberantly joyful being a new mom - it's maddening. And it's lonely. Brooke's story helped me put things into perspective, made me feel I wasn't alone (or weird or a bad mother) and made me ask for help. Made me speak up. I talked to my husband and I talked to my doctor. That alone made things better. I was not diagnosed with postpartum depression and shortly after my doctor's visit things started looking up and I started feeling enormously happy being a new mom and greatly enjoyed my baby.
I do feel that reading Brooke's book helped a lot - I loved how she candidly and honestly told her story - nothing held back. It made me want to give her a hug, honestly. First for being a strong woman and coming out victoriously from her postpartum depression journey. And second, for writing her story - it was incredibly helpful, a true gift to me. It helped me and I'm sure it's helping a lot of other women. So again, THANK YOU BROOKE!
