I can totally see this being true.. I never had PPD until my 4th baby, he was a boy.

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~*Candice*~
Wife, Doula, student midwife and mama to 4

This quote is classic....

"I'd have been really depressed giving birth to a man."
judy, Liverpool, England

I suffered very bad PND with my first child, a girl. Yet, I only suffered mild baby blues with my second child, who was a boy.

I can't say it's not true, but personally I feel that it's more to do with past issues, socioeconomics and life changes that come with a new baby etc.

I have two boys, I had PND after the first and I was never really myself again until I had the second.

I also feel it is far more to do with your personal circumstances and history.

I also have a theory that it may have something to do with how much control you feel you have over your birth experience. With the first, I wanted a water birth, and after coming out of the pool to sleep overnight, my midwife would not allow me back in because she decided, with absolutely no consultation of my thoughts, that I had have a syntocin drip to speed things up. With my second, the midwife asked me my opinion on everything, starting with going through a birthing plan practically as soon as I had stepped into the labour ward, and it was all 'do you want me to do this' or 'can i examine you now' not 'you have to have this' 'we have to do that' like the first time around.

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Mum to two beautiful boys.
Student Midwife Cardiff 2008!!

I totally agree with you Rachael. With my daughter my birth was awful. I was confined to the bed for monitoring, my labour slowed (I wonder why!) so I was put on a drip, baby didn't come very well, I had a huge episotomy and suction. When daugter was finally born, the registrar banged her head on the lamp causing her to have a burn, she was then rused off to be checked over. My BP was shockingly high and they told my mum they expected me to have a stroke!!! I had pethadine and felt so out of it, it was awful and because of all the problems, breast feeding was never really established which made me truly sad.
My daughter was then in SCBU for 4 weeks adding to the upset. As you can see, not very nice.

As for my son, I was active the whole way through. I didn't have any pain relief until I was pushing and then it was gas and air. He was born beautifully with dad cutting cord, lots of skin to skin and breastfeeding. I did have retained placenta and I bled, LOTS. But, the way it was dealt with was so diofferent it didn't seem to matter.

i had really bad post natal on both my children my daughter was born after having a section and my son was born natrually although i would have been 10 times worse on him if id have had to have another section and be in hospital for 6 days after

Hmmm. not really sure about this. After all it can go either way. And I ownder whethr these were primips or multips?

I am sure I have read research that suggests events during albour and birth have a far greater potential to cause PND. Along with pre-existing depression, socio-economic status and support network.

Interesting.

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Lead administrator
Head of student services


Have you just been offered a place? If so and you want a mentor please post in post this forum (also post here if you would like a mentee)

You didn't mention how much control you had over your son's birth. Both my births were natural and straightforward, it's just that the midwife at the first was telling me what to do and the second time the midwife was asking me i.e. giving me responsibility. How was it with your son?

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Mum to two beautiful boys.
Student Midwife Cardiff 2008!!

i had an emergency section on my daughter after having 10 hours labour and only getting to 6 cms then her heart beat was dropping i had to stay in hospital for 6 days after her
on my son i was supposed to have a community midwife but non were available 4 me it was straightforward enough in slow labour all day then had him the followin morn at 9 but i felt that the "bonding" stage i struggled with the first 2 weeks i couldnt even c visitors im fine now though 2 yrs on !!!!!!

So you were let down by your midwife/midwives. No wonder you had pnd again. I think it's awful that so many women get such a rough deal because of the way the system is set up, not enough midwives, too rigid hospital policies.

I'm glad to hear you're OK now though.

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Mum to two beautiful boys.
Student Midwife Cardiff 2008!!