Too High Functioning for Therapy

When I had my first-born in 2016, I had an easy pregnancy. I only had what I called “hangover gut rot” for about two weeks. Afterwards, I felt good for the rest of the pregnancy, except for some fatigue and hip and back discomfort. I stayed active, even jogging the day I went into labor.

What I didn’t realize until after I had given birth was how much the pregnancy had affected my mental state. From about 20 weeks until the day my son was born, I generally felt low. I didn’t have much of a drive to do anything or go anywhere, I felt numb to what was going on around me. I didn’t gain much weight during the pregnancy (only 17 lbs) because I didn’t have an appetite.

Luckily my son was born very healthy. Two days postpartum, I told my husband that it was as if I could see colors again. It felt like when you have a cold and you forget how great it feels to breathe through your nose until it finally clears up. Other than some normal “baby blues” a week or so after delivery, I had no issues postpartum.

When I started having the same issues with my second pregnancy, I decided to get ahead of it this time. At the time of this writing, I’m 31 weeks and due on Memorial Day 2019. I was already feeling much worse this pregnancy and was sick until 16 weeks. I developed painful varicose veins in my legs and *ahem* down there. I have to wear heavy, medical grade compression hose every day. These hosiery definitely weren’t ever tested on pregnant women because it’s like wearing shape-wear every day. The icing on the…