Tricia Rausch, a nurse at AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, is the coordinator for the hospital’s Perinatal Bereavement & Postpartum Emotional Support program. Rausch has spent 10 of her 13 years as an AdventHealth team member helping babies’ families with various facets of mental health around birth – and loss.
In the Q&A below, Rausch shares her perspective on the recently reported increase in postpartum depression during the pandemic.
Research shows that the number of mothers experiencing postpartum depression has nearly tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic. What factors have contributed to this increase?
Tricia Rausch coordinates AdventHealth Shawnee Mission's Perinatal Bereavement & Postpartum Emotional Support program.
Isolation is one of the biggest contributing factors. Some mothers had to deliver without their partners in the room, without their support system. It looked so different than they had planned or imagined. Many moms feared testing positive for COVID-19 and possibly being separated from their baby. After delivery things looked very different too. Grandparents, family, and friends didn’t come to help the new mom or see the new baby. If they did, it was masked and from a distance. Many moms I worked with shared their new babies with family through a window, which felt like the best way to protect everyone. But all these things led to more isolation and an intense feeling of loss. Support looked different too. Doctor visits were via telehealth, making screening for perinatal mood disorders a little more complicated. Lactation support after hospital discharge was virtual, too, which led to moms feeling like a failure when breastfeeding didn’t go as planned or, unable to access the help they needed, they had to stop breastfeeding because of the added anxiety or pain it was causing. Even when they could be seen in person, they were so scared their baby would get exposed to COVID-19, they opted not to seek in-person medical attention.
Original source can be found here.
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