nicu and ptsd

cuterusaurus · February 2014

https://m.today.com/moms/hidden-human-cost-distressed-babies-nicu-parents-suffer-ptsd-symptoms-2D12114627

I think this probably holds true for any traumatic birth.

PrimRoseMama · February 2014

So many hugs to all the mamas going through these experiences.

Pink724 · February 2014

PrimRoseMama said:

So many hugs to all the mamas going through these experiences.

This. >:D<

[Deleted User] · February 2014

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24karat · February 2014

Definitely. It doesn't surprise me that stress like this could result in PTSD-like symptoms.

[Deleted User] · February 2014

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lrichmond86 · February 2014

Definitely. I was diagnosed press after our loss. There are so many different facets to it.

lrichmond86 · February 2014

Ptsd*

gutsymama · February 2014

Yes.

I think I probably should've been treated for something. PPD, PPA, PTSD? I don't know. But I didn't know when I could possibly find time to go, or where to go, and I was kind of scared to go, and I never went.

I'm totally fine now though, right? :P

Hugs to the other NICU and traumatic birth mamas, always. And an extra squishy one for Ames.

weaslewam · February 2014

Mamasighs said:

Absolutely. I read a study a few years ago that revealed women who suffer repeat miscarriages and IF/repeated IF treatments can suffer from PTSD like symptoms.

I "only" had one miscarriage and I can vouch for that. My pregnancy was hard and I was constantly worried. After N was born I was constantly looking up things at night (ways to prevent SIDS for instance) and I could hardly sleep. I can't even imagine if he was in the NICU.

gutsymama · February 2014

I guess I'm left wondering this: if you've had a NICU baby or a traumatic birth or a difficult pregnancy or loss(es) or any number of other things - of course those things are incredibly stressful. Of course you are left with more anxiety than if you had never had that experience, and of course certain things trigger emotions. But at what point does that warrant a label and/or treatment? Wouldn't those things sometimes just be "normal" for the circumstances?

I'm absolutely not trying to downplay anybody's struggles, you guys know that. I'm mostly still trying to figure this out for myself.

karen0477 · February 2014

I think you have to know yourself and if you feel you can get through it or need to seek out help. Perhaps people around you, dh perhaps, can help with asking if you need help. My dh did this when we almost lost older dd at 2.5 weeks. She went into picu for 2 nights and on the unit another night. I was a rock through it at the hospital, I was a wreck when we brought her home. I never did seek treatment, but I know dh was on the lookout for how I was doing the entire time. I feel for all the mommas that have to go through something like this......

valstulas · February 2014

mimi4347 said:
I guess I'm left wondering this: if you've had a NICU baby or a traumatic birth or a difficult pregnancy or loss(es) or any number of other things - of course those things are incredibly stressful. Of course you are left with more anxiety than if you had never had that experience, and of course certain things trigger emotions. But at what point does that warrant a label and/or treatment? Wouldn't those things sometimes just be "normal" for the circumstances?

I'm absolutely not trying to downplay anybody's struggles, you guys know that. I'm mostly still trying to figure this out for myself.

I think it depends on whether you are able to cope in healthy ways and whether your emotional responses are negatively impacting your life. That's a vague and unspecific response that varies greatly from woman to woman, of course.

It's never a bad idea to seek out therapy, even if you feel that you are coping with a traumatic event well. You can maintain a certain level of functioning for quite awhile before it becomes apparent that you need help. Even if you never need actual treatment, a qualified therapist can help you to sort through your emotional responses to the trauma and help to keep you healthy.

valstulas · February 2014

Oh, and big hugs to our NICU and traumatic birth vets. >:D< >:D< >:D<

You all are stronger than you should have to be.

gutsymama · February 2014

So if I spend time worrying about waking up to find my baby covered in blood, but stay calm when it actually happens, and I sometimes try to avoid real people so I don't have to talk about things but I have my bumpies to make up for that, and this article made me cry in public but I can still joke about it....

= coping in healthy ways? :P

Also "bumpies" autocorrected to "bum pies"

valstulas · February 2014

Yum, bum pie. Is that like hair pie?

Yeah, Mimi, that sounds pretty healthy to me

ljs4117 · February 2014

Thanks for posting, ames. It was very timely for me.

I've always considered our time in the NICU as fairly mild compared to the traumatic events that some of you ladies have gone through.. but sometimes I wonder if that time has impacted more than I realized. Perhaps it's just my anxious/depressed tendencies, but I have an insane response to anything that DD does that could indicate trauma, especially breathing related. She was in the NICU for a week after being unable to breathe properly at birth (born at 38 weeks). She's had a cold off and on for the past three-ish weeks and the last few nights she has been coughing something terrible. The other night I broke down into a sobbing shaking mess because she was gagging on her phlegm, and last night the same thing was happening and I ended up having a panic attack later that night when I went to bed. Pacing, trembling, feeling of dying and all.. LOVE IT.

Anyway.. this makes sense to me. I do believe that there is grieving for what you didn't get to experience. It took a while for me to come to terms with the fact that I didn't get to hold my baby when she was born (ok, well I did but she was blue and it was more traumatic than anything), that I didn't get to take her home when I left the hospital, the list goes on. I can't even imagine what you all that had even harder and scarier situations have gone through and are going through.

Hugs to all of you with traumatic birth experiences, NICU time, etc.

JTA2426 · February 2014

Absolutely true. I wouldn't say that I have any of those negative consequences from our NICU experience, but obviously my situation was a little different. I do still absolutely grieve a "normal" delivery but on the other hand, our NICU time and motherhood itself changed me as a NICU nurse for the better.

I know some of the mothers we send home have to be experiencing such overwhelming levels of depression, stress, anxiety, etc. I can't imagine.

lrichmond86 · February 2014

mimi4347 said:
I guess I'm left wondering this: if you've had a NICU baby or a traumatic birth or a difficult pregnancy or loss(es) or any number of other things - of course those things are incredibly stressful. Of course you are left with more anxiety than if you had never had that experience, and of course certain things trigger emotions. But at what point does that warrant a label and/or treatment? Wouldn't those things sometimes just be "normal" for the circumstances?

I'm absolutely not trying to downplay anybody's struggles, you guys know that. I'm mostly still trying to figure this out for myself.

I can only speak to my own experience, but for me it took my therapist suggesting that it might be something that I was dealing with. Her main reason for thinking this was that I was having flashbacks often (and still do) to specific moments from the days in which we found out that our son had passed through when we got home from the hospital. The way she explained it to me is that typically in grief you would remember those moments and have emotional reactions to them, but that in time those reactions would be less intense. For me my memories are so vivid that when I think of them I feel the exact same feeling that I did when they were happening, even today. For example, If I think aboutthe moment that we got confirmation through ultrasound that our son no longer had a heart beat it takes a great deal of effort for me not to burst into tears and I have difficulty breathing. I could tell you every detail of what was going on In that room, from what my husband's hair smelled like with his head on my chest to what staff was In the room to what socks I was wearing. In hindsight I knew that wasn't normal, but it took someone else pointing it out to me for me to get a grasp on what I was dealing with. However I also know that ptsd is very varied from person to person.

klepa20c · February 2014

all the hugs to ladies who spent lots of time in the NICU/ had a traumatic birth

my lo was full term and spent 10 days in the nicu for meconium aspiration and the worst part for me is that i just felt like if i had done something differently it wouldn't have been that way. everyone told me that this was totally irrational but i still feel guilty about it and hesitate to tell people irl.

gutsymama · February 2014

Big hugs hugs, @lrichmond86, and thanks for sharing your experience with us.

JTA2426 · February 2014

https://teamwhitaker.org/2013/11/dear-nicu-momma/

Saw this and thought of y'all and this post.

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nicu and ptsd

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