Why Chrissy Teigen’s Story of Postpartum Depression is Everything
Like many sleep deprived Moms with secret love for celebrities, I adore the hell out of Chrissy Teigen. She’s honest, she’s witty and beautiful, but not in a ‘love to hate her’ kind of way.
She tells it like it is; recently she admitted that her ability to go out on dates with husband John Legend and attend all sorts of award shows this season is because of how much help she has.
She’s transparent; when struggling with infertility and speaking frankly about having more children, she doesn’t shy away from the touchy and oft-ignored or quieted subjects such as infertility and IVF so many couples face when trying to conceive.
And today again, Chrissy found her way to my heart with her admission that she struggled with postpartum depression after having daughter Luna. Here’s the different between Chrissy’s admission and so many other celebrity stories: hers speaks to the surprise and utter shock that is recognized when realizing the name and face of what is going on.
“I didn’t think it could happen to me.”
This single statement resonated so strongly with me, because it’s EXACTLY how I feel and felt when I realized almost two years into my postpartum depression journey that I was experiencing something bigger than me.
Sadly, still, postpartum depression is one of the least covered topics when preparing for pregnancy and childbirth. It’s one dimensional. It’s assumed to have only certain characteristics, to affect persons who are more ‘prone’ to depression. And yet it affects one in nine women post delivery.
There is no one way to experience postpartum depression. There’s also no shame in admitting that you’re having a hard time, whether you have postpartum depression or not! This was one of the hardest things for me, and the reason I felt I had to keep pushing, keep moving after having my second baby. I was a labor and postpartum doula, for crying out loud! I knew what I was doing, I’d be fine!
I wasn’t fine. And it took me so long to realize it that I suffered for too long in silence.
Hopefully, with the takeaway that we constantly get from Chrissy Teigen, that even those that seem to have the perfect system in place, the perfect life, the most help, can suffer, more will realize their need postpartum. More of us will say “YES. It CAN be better than this.”
While you take the time to prepare for your beautiful journey of pregnancy, whether it’s your first baby or not, one of our goals at Maryland State Doulas is that we support and provide you the knowledge to reach out for help if you’re struggling, from us or other resources. To bolster your confidence enough to know when you need help is one of the ways I know I’ve done my job the best.
Let’s keep following Chrissy Teigen’s Twitter feed, and applaud her bringing her experience to light. We all deserve to get the love and support that we need. If you, or someone you know, is experiencing symptoms or difficulties that may be due to postpartum depression, please reach out. There is support here for you, every step of the way.