Katherine Stone, who runs the Postpartum Progress Blog, recently posted about two new studies related to SSRI’s & risks to fetus during pregnancy. I thought I would post a link to her story here being that i mentioned meds & pregnancy in my last post.
Staying on your meds during pregnancy is a very personal decision and does have its risks – when I said I advocate staying on your meds – I meant it in such a way that you need to educate yourself about those risks vs. the benefits. The benefit being that if you stay on your med, you are more likely not to relapse during the postpartum stage. It’s also been proven that women who are depressed during pregnancy tend to deliver earlier than women who are not. This has been proven to me with my own two prior pregnancies. I was not depressed during my first pregnancy and delivered a week past my due date. With my second, I went into labor three weeks early. Not a scientific observation, but a personal one.
That being said, the link to the story at Postpartum Progress is: http://postpartumprogress.typepad.com/weblog/2007/07/two-new-studies.html
Discuss the risks with your doctor. Make an educated decision. That’s all I’m advocating. You are part of the care team and these early decisions are just as important as the ones you will make once baby is here. Just because you become a mother does not mean you should stop taking care of yourself – if anything, it means that you have EVEN MORE REASON to take care of yourself….
