pregnancy – Delight in Disorder

Hope for Troubled Minds: My Miracle Child by Donna Erickson

MY MIRACLE CHILD It has not been easy since day one. Actually, before that. I had fertility problems that required tests, treatments, and lots of doctors visits. What came so easily for others was an uphill struggle for me. I just wanted to have a baby. Jeff and I married young, worked hard, and saved up enough money for a down payment on a house. After we moved in, my biological urge to become a mother really kicked in. But my body was not cooperating. Finally, after four long years, my dream came true. I was pregnant! by Donna Erickson Dear Ryan, I loved and wanted you so much, before you were even born. When you came into our lives, your father and I were over the moon and filled with happiness. But it was hard to raise such a defiant child. Tantrums lasted longer than my friends‘ children, and [...]

Psychotropics and Pregnancy: The Costs and Benefits

Some time ago I met a woman who was deeply distraught. She had been diagnosed with major depression and sometime ago was prescribed anti-depressants. They worked very well and she came to enjoy a period of relative stability. Then she and her husband decided to start a family. Leery of the impact of psychotropics on her developing child, she spoke with her psychiatrist who agreed to wean her off her meds. At first she felt good as she launched into the journey toward motherhood. Then months past. A year. Two years. No baby. And the demon of depression returned with a vengeance. She found it difficult to work, to enjoy time with her husband, even to concentrate on simple household tasks. She had made room in her heart for a child and now it was filled with sorrow. What can she do? I asked this to some friends and one [...]