Postpartum Depression: You Already Do Everything on Your Phone—Now You Can Even Treat Postpartum Depression

glamour.com:

and experienced severe swelling (a condition called edema). She left the hospital over 30 pounds heavier than when she checked in. “My bones hurt in my body because the swelling was so intense," she says. "I couldn't walk because I couldn't bend at the ankles.

I had a hard time breathing; there was so much pressure in my chest. It was awful.”The whole experience left her shaken. “It was the total opposite end of the spectrum from what we had planned,” she says. “It was the most wonderful experience and the worst experience of my life, both at the same time.”“It’s really hard to admit that you might not be in control of your mind.”Traumatic birth experiences like Valerie’s are a risk factor for perinatal (PMADs), an umbrella term for mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder that occur during pregnancy or up to a year postpartum.

Like all mental health conditions, the exact number of cases is nearly impossible to track, but research one in five birthing people experience PMADs (further they're more common in Black women).

Postpartum depression and are the most common PMADs with and of women experiencing each condition respectively. (An of women experience PTSD following childbirth, and an of new mothers—and some new fathers—will experience postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder.)Valerie’s swelling eventually resolved, but her postpartum complications weren’t over.