Postpartum Memoir

When Brooke Shields welcomed her newborn daughter, Rowan Francis Henchy, into the world, something unexpected followed: a crippling depression. Now, for the first time, Brooke talks about the trials, tribulations, and finally the triumphs that occurred before, during, and after the birth of her daughter.

Early motherhood is supposed to be joyous, but for Aaisha Alvi those early days were ruined by terrifying thoughts about her baby and family. Her experience was the antithesis of everything she had ever been told about motherhood, far beyond the trials of breastfeeding or putting her baby to sleep. Aaisha did recover and began to enjoy motherhood. She was thrilled when she fell pregnant again. Sadly, that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, and the psychosis returned. This time, however, she was blindsided by the unimaginable: voices urged her to stab her daughter and to harm innocent people.

Repeat mothers are assumed to know what to expect during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. Unexpected: A Postpartum Memoir is the moving, raw account of a second-time mother who finds herself struggling for the first time with postpartum depression, anxiety and motherhood itself. Only as a mother of two does Emily find herself unable to ignore the impossible tempo of motherhood. At eight-months postpartum, Emily finds motherhood to be punctuated with unexpected sensations of irritability and feelings of rage all lathered in immobilizing guilt and shame.

A harrowing memoir about a woman's struggle with postpartum depression. Nine days after the birth of her daughter, Amanda was involuntarily admitted to a Toronto psychiatric ward for postpartum depression (PPD). The typical hold-and-release process in Ontario is seventy-two hours. She stayed eighteen days.

If I could make it to the bridge, the pain would stop. I just had to make it to the bridge, and the hopelessness would end. It became a refrain, running over and over in my head as I raced down the highway. Make it to the bridge, and the pain will end. It's hopeless. Just wanna die. Make it to the bridge.