How to Cope If You're Depressed and Pregnant

Tips for dealing with depression during pregnancy

• Watch your pregnancy diet! Try to eat healthy, nutritious meals and snacks and load up with yummy fresh fruit!
• Get plenty of rest and don't forget to ask for help! Get selfish about grabbing as much sleep as possible as sleep is a huge tonic when you are depressed and pregnant!
• Even the smallest amount of exercise will make you feel better. Swimming is excellent for pregnant women, but walking outdoors, breating in fresh air will do you masses of good. And your skin will simply glow, making you feel better too!
• Tell your partner how you are feeling ... keep those lines of communication open!
• Treat yourself to stylish maternity clothes ... you'll be wearing them for months and you need to feel good in them! You don't need to resort to your partner's wardrobe!
• Treat yourself with new make-up and take time out every day to make yourself feel attractive ... just a touch of mascara and a slick of lipgloss makes a big difference to how confident you feel.
• If you can't bear your usual perfume ... splash out and try a new one! You don't have to spend a lot unless you want to.
• Accessories are a great way of cheering up even the dullest of outfits ... and they don't have to cost the earth! Look out for bargains online with Marks and Spencer, browse end-of-season sales or hunt for funky items in thrift shops!
• Keep yourself busy ... it's the best way to keep boredom at bay! If you're fit and mobile, gardening or decorating the nursery are fun. If you need something less active, a Pregnancy Journal or scrapbook is a beautiful keepsake to pass on to your child in the future!
• Get romantic with your partner ... try cooking a meal together, grabbing a DVD and snuggling up to watch the movie, or take a leisurely walk together somewhere beautiful. Savour your time as a couple ... before baby comes along and changes everything!

Some reasons why women get depressed and pregnant ...

When the hormones kick in and you have a bout of the pregnancy blues, these are some things that could make you unhappy ... some more than others ... some on their own and others all jumbled up together!

• Your belly is growing at a rate of knots! Early in your pregnancy you're convinced people think you're fat ... later on you get sick of people telling you how big you're getting!
• Your 'normal' clothes don't fit.
• You haven't seen your feet for ages, they swell up uncomfortably when you walk or stand for long and you've developed a strange waddle!
• You've developed the Mask Of Pregnancy and hate the way it makes your face look.
• Your skin is mis-behaving ... maybe you've even suffered from painful acne during pregnancy?
• You've never experienced it before, but now you have hair loss to cope with too!
• You've been suffering with terrible morning sickness.
• Your stretch marks have to be seen to be believed!
• You're simply not getting enough sleep and you're so tired all the time!

Sources of Help for You

The National Child Birth Trust is a lifeline for many new mums! They have groups meeting across the British Isles, so you should find one close enough to join.

In Australia PANDSI Post and AnteNatal Depression Support and Information Incorporated is a not-for-profit community service provider well equipped to help.

In the US, not-for-profit organisation Depression after Delivery provides educational and telephone support for women with antenatal depression.