Category Archives: education

Sharing the Journey with Didi

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Hedwige St. Louis, or Didi to those who know her, is an amazing woman doing wonderful things here in the state of Georgia. She’s spearheading the development of a statewide Perinatal resource organization, The Georgia Postpartum Support Network. Her passion for working with women struggling with Postpartum Mood Disorders springs from professional and personal experiences. As an OB, she sees women with Postpartum Mood Disorders through her practice. As a Mom, she is a survivor of a Mood Disorder, something which helped to inspire her to develop this network. Thank you Didi, for taking on such a tremendously important and much needed project!

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Tell us a little bit about who Didi is when she’s not being an OB or volunteering with Postpartum Support.

When I’m not an Ob or volunteering with GPSN, I am a mom to an amazing little guy who just turned 3. I’m married to a DJ of all things and I have a dog. I love to work out, play piano, and read. I was originally born in NYC, then due to my dad’s job I grew up in Europe, South America and the Caribbean. I came back to the US for College and have been here since.

What has been your personal experience with Postpartum Mood Disorders? Did your training and education prepare you at all?

In 2006, after having my son I experienced postpartum depression with some OCD component to it. At the time I was completely unaware and just felt isolated. I had nothing to go on and just thought something was wrong with me and if I just hung in there eventually I would be myself again. A year later my sister made a comment and that’s when I realised that I was depressed for the entire first year of my son’s life, it also explained my extreme hair loss and all the other symptoms. My training and education did not prepare me, because you never think it’s going to happen to you. Furthermore most physician are more familiar with the extremes of Perinatal Mood Disorders, but the subtle ones, where the person is functioning, are harder to catch if you don’t screen the person for it. Now I know that I was a poster child for PMD: Type A, primary bread winner, in charge of household finances, history of depression. But my experience has made me a much better physician and brought me closer to my patients.

Speaking of your training, share with us what limitations (if any) you are faced with as an OB when a woman may be presenting with a Mood Disorder during her Postpartum visit. What do you feel would give you more of an opening or provide more options for you to help women with a PMD?

Now that I have made my mission to be better educated about this illness and its many facets, I feel better prepared because rather than waiting for my patient to present with the illness, I am working to have our whole practice routinely screen our patients so we can catch them early. I also make it a point to educate my patients towards the end of the pregnancy about all the feelings they will experience and I encourage them to feel comfortable in calling our office to talk to any of the providers or nurses. Working with GPSN has also allowed me to identify more resources than i had in the beginning, both online and in the state. My goal is to have resources available to women across the state.

Share with us three things that made you laugh or smile today.

My spinning class this morning, my son’s smile and laugh and some music my husband gave me last night.

We met as you were developing a statewide support network for women and families with PMD’s. How did you get started on this project?

I started on it because I was frustrated at the lack of resources. I had several patients dealing with a perinatal mood disorders and while some did well with the couple of referrals I had, others did not. And for those who didn’t, I had no alternatives. this was frustrating because as a physician, a mom, I am used to providing my patients with answers, solutions and I couldn’t.

Tell us about GPSN. What do you hope to achieve with this organization and where do you see it going?

GPSN was started as a resource and support organization. Our goal is to provide women with the information they need so they can make informed choices and find the right treatment alternative for themselves as they are battling their perinatal mood disorders. Our goals include developing a database of health-care providers who know how to manage PMD, educate all health-care providers who take care of pregnant women so that screening for PMD becomes routine, educate the public about PMD so that family, friends and spouses will better understand PMDs and be better able to support their loved one as they are dealing with their illness. Five years from now, I would like to see GPSN actively participating in the community through our support warm-line, community workshops, support groups and continuing medical education for health-care providers.

What do you find to be the most challenging about parenting? The least challenging?

The most challenging part of parenting, the unpredictability!! I am very type A, I like to plan everything for the next month, Donovan (my son) has a different take on that, for him life is a series of discoveries, so I have had to learn to pace myself and be patient, so I let him find his path.

The least challenging…loving him. He is the best thing I have ever done and for all the pain of that first year, I would do it over in a heartbeat.

As mothers it is so important we remember to Mother ourselves, something we often push to the side. What do YOU do to mother yourself?

This year I am slowly coming into my own, but it’s taken a while for me to start taking care of myself the way I use to before having Donovan. I make time to work out just about everyday, I play with Donovan which is very therapeutic for me and i make time to read. This year I also plan on cultivating my friendships a little better and a little more.

What effect, if any, did your Postpartum experience have on your marriage?

For a while there was a distance between my husband and I. We struggled with communication, but we are working through it and I think my husband understands better the importance of sharing parenting duties, giving me a break and supporting me.

Last but not least, what advice would you give to an expectant mother (new or experienced) regarding Postpartum Mood Disorders?

Don’t be afraid to reach out and talk to someone and if you don’t get helpful response, try again until you find it. Don’t give up on yourself, it’s not your fault and there are thousands of women out there who will readily embrace you and help you through this.

Thanks Lauren, those were some very thoughtful questions.

Didi

More irresponsibility from ABC regarding PMD’s

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Wow.

ABC has really outdone themselves on the stigma and ignorance angle. Before we go any further, yes, I realize this is a fictional show. BUT keep in mind that ABC approached PSI to attempt to be responsible but didn’t follow through and instead jumped straight through the flaming media sensationalization hoop. Why? Because that’s what brings in the almighty dollar. Shame on ABC for selling out on responsibility.

A quick visit to Katherine Stone’s blog this morning got my juices revving again. And Susan Dowd Stone was not happy about the display either.

Bad enough that Private Practice chose not to air the carefully crafted PSA but they didn’t provide proper direction for the PSA to even address the right thing.

Then, ABC now has a poll up at the Private Practice website asking if a mother who is being treated after attempting to drown her baby should have access to her baby. The answers available? Yes, it would motivate her to get better and then No. Totally insensitive and irresponsible.

And let’s not forget the attempt at being “professional” by Private Practice with their Researcher’s Blog which is supposed to explain the weekly episode with facts, etc. This week’s entry blows. The researcher explains mania and manic behavior yet offers no insight into how the dad missed mom’s behavior. (Hello! Unless Dad knows what to look for and has been educated by professionals around him AND mom is communicating because she too has been educated, it’s very easy for dad to miss the signs and symptoms – I know I hid my symptoms pretty well for awhile the first time around because I knew how I was supposed to be acting.)

Katherine is calling for a boycott of the show and I have to wholeheartedly agree. Pull the Plug on Private Practice and their sham of attempting to represent the medical world. How dare they drop the ball on such a sensitive topic! No voice will have a louder effect than a sudden drop in viewership because that means decrease in advertising and then well, if a show isn’t profitable anymore……. Spread the word – and stop watching.

ABC’s Private Practice misses the mark

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Like many other members of the PPD advocacy community, I watched Private Practice tonight. It’s a show I don’t usually watch but tuned in because the storyline had to do with Postpartum Depression. It said so right in the description: Cooper, Violet and Pete treat a woman with postpartum depression. But she didn’t have postpartum depression which affects up to 20% of new moms.

A jump was quickly made to postpartum psychosis and mom was sedated and put on meds that were not compatible with breastfeeding (even though she WAS indeed nursing). There was also no clear cut consent shown to this course of treatment.

Then Violet didn’t want to give the baby back to the mother for fear that THEY would be the ones thought of as “what were you thinking!?” We work SO hard to fight against the myth that a mother’s baby will be taken from her if she seeks help. I can’t help but think about how many new moms saw this show and may possibly avoid seeking help because of this portrayal.

There were a few things they did get right. Cooper pointed out how rare psychosis is and stated that it’s NOT normal. And he’s right – postpartum psychosis affects 1 to 2 moms per 1000 births so no, it’s NOT normal.

And the portrayal of the mom with psychosis? Her behaviors and irrational beliefs? The fast talking and incoherent babbling? Totally on point. In fact, the one scene where she admits to how she’s really feeling got me right there. All of the sudden I was back in bed, curled in the fetal position waiting for my husband to get home. My breath caught and my eyes watered up. I’m nearly three years past that point but man it came rushing back in a heartbeat. It’s SO hard to forget that fall yet at the same time it has become a very empowering memory for me because I know how far I have journeyed since then.

The PSA was missing from the end of the show as well. If you go to ABC’s website and click on Private Practice then go the The Ex-Life (I think that was the title of tonight’s episode), the PSA is the first of the scenes you can select to watch. Hopefully your computer works their site better than mine does – I had two video audios running at once which made it really hard to hear what Amy Brennan (Violet) had to say (and thanks to Katherine Stone over @ Postpartum Progress for working with ABC on the PSA! Good job!)

Overall I have to give them credit for trying. They got a few things right. It could have been better but hey, it is a fictional drama, right? And just as here, not everything is perfect there. I suppose we’ll just have to be happy that they even bothered to broach the topic and consulted PSI in the process, right? Right?

New Study to focus on a multi-disciplinary approach to Maternal Depression

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Cynthia Connelly, director of nursing research at USD’s Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, is leading a $3.1 million, five-year study to identify and treat maternal depression. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, her Perinatal Mental Health Project is the recipient of the largest single grant in the university’s history.

“The various academies — the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Nursing, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists — all support using screening as a part of the practice,” says Connelly. “But there are terrible cost constraints and time constraints that undermine the best intentions.”

Can I just say YAY for now? I’ll definitely be writing more about this study but right now, neither of the kids are napping and my eyes are not staying open on their own very well. But overall I am excited about the potential for this study and can’t wait to share more thoughts!

Nicholas Fuelling promises to wait for his wife

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Earlier this week, Kristina Fuelling found herself sentenced to the lowest possible sentence for the death of her eight day old infant. Fortunately she found herself in the presence of a very compassionate judge and prosecutor who were both able to recognize her actions were a result of Postpartum Psychosis. She is currently being held at a mental facility and will be transferred to a state prison for the remainder of her sentence once her mental state stabilizes.

Her husband, in exclusive first statements to a local news station, has promised to wait for Kristina and opened up about signs and symptoms of Postpartum Depression and Psychosis. He encourages fathers and loved ones of new mothers to educate themselves and become familiar with signs that things are not going well.

According to the article, Nicholas’ statement of encouraging awareness is:

“I would tell new mothers, or expecting mothers and fathers to research it, look into it. It’s just as important as any other factor of raising a child,” he said. “There are signs: lack of sleep, having trouble with breast feeding, having trouble taking care of the baby, lot of anxiety. But sometimes it comes just unexpectedly.Even in hindsight now, I don’t even think I could’ve been able to change it unless I knew beforehand,” Fuelling said.

“So I would tell people out there to look for signs of severe anxiety. Get help. Ask your friends and your parents, family, to come over to help take care of the kids. Don’t be alone on it if you feel any feelings of being scared or not being able to handle the situation,” he added.

You can read the remainder of the article by clicking here.