From challenging infertility experiences, pregnancy complications, traumatic births, and postpartum recoveries, it's no wonder that 1 out of 3 women experience postnatal/postpartum PTSD and describe their births as traumatic. Partners, too, can experience trauma throughout the reproductive journey. It can be really challenging to experience trauma on the journey towards parenthood, and be simultaneously healing emotionally and physically!
My new book is for anyone who has experienced distress during their perinatal journey. For survivors of reproductive trauma (and the providers who work with them), this book provides comprehensive skills, gentle journaling prompts, and loads of empowering information.
You will gain support to manage your current trauma responses, around attachment/bonding with your baby, intimacy with your partner, handling challenging and paralyzing decisions about the future, and so much more.
Whether you are still going through this distress, or you are just now able to reflect back on something that happened to you in the past, you will gain support wherever you are on your healing journey.
My colleague, Dr. Beth Berger and I set out to write the book that we needed for our pregnant and postpartum clients: an easily digestible book that was full of tangible skills to help them navigate all the mood changes they might experience when becoming a parent. We also wanted to address the full spectrum of emotions one might face during pregnancy AND the postpartum period, and do so in a way that would be easy to read with a tired, sleep deprived new parent's poor attention span.
Our book helps you understand what you're feeling, and build skills to manage your changing moods. There are chapters to address your relationships, help your partner, and learn communication skills to manage some of the challenging changes to these relationships since becoming a parent. I love our chapters on self care, bonding, and how parenting a baby with a medical issue may have an additional impact on your changing mental health - we explore all from a space of support and no-judgement. And finally there's a helpful chapter for those thinking about conceiving again and struggling with this decision after experiencing perinatal mood changes.
The Pregnancy and Postpartum Mood Workbook is chock full of resources, tangible skills, activities and support. We are so proud of our book, and hope it helps you, or someone you know.