Today’s episode is an important one to me because the main focus is around one mother’s journey through postpartum anxiety. Statistics around postpartum mood disorders vary because frankly we do a shit job of screening for it. Symptoms can vary widely from one mother to another and so many cases go completely undiagnosed. 

Some stats say upwards of 20% of moms have battled some type of postpartum mood disorder, but I believe, even anecdotally, that that number is too low. 

If you go back and listen to all my guests up to this point, most of them mention that they endured some level of postpartum mood disorder. I’m personally passionate about it because I myself experienced issues with my first child. I talk about it in episode 3 and how I felt completely disconnected emotionally from my child. 

So I put out a call to my fellow moms who would be willing to share their experiences with postpartum anxiety, depression, psychosis, baby blues…all of it. In hopes of shining a light on a problem that needs proper attention.

I first sit down with Laura Courrau.

She is an operations director for a company that does in-home autism therapy for kids diagnosed within the spectrum of ASD. She has a two year old daughter and she really opens up about her start to being a mom and how anxiety overcame her during the first year.

We talk about how sleep deprivation may have played a role, her attempt to seek professional help, and how it felt to go back to work in a startup space filled with young males, none of which had kids of their own. 

This is the first of five interviews I will be sharing that focuses specifically on postpartum mood disorders so a big thank you to Laura and the other guests I will have on who speak so candidly about their experiences.