BOZEMAN — Here at the Bozeman Hospital labor and delivery unit, folks are getting ready to welcome in new life.
A sea of resource packets is given to new parents with information on how to handle postpartum changes.
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“These systems and the repercussions of postpartum [including] depression, anxiety, OCD, psychosis can last for years if we don't address them,” says Brooke Cadwell.
Cadwell is a midwife and psychiatric nurse at Bozeman Health Women's Specialists with extensive schooling from Yale School of Nursing and Johns Hopkins.
“I got a job here as a nurse midwife, and what I found about two years into practice, as a rural community, we were lacking resources for mental health, and I consistently had women who were very much struggling with mental health whether it was just in their daily life or especially pregnancy and postpartum,” Cadwell says.
Mental changes during postpartum are something Cadwell is no stranger to.
“On a personal note, I have two children, and I struggled with postpartum anxiety and postpartum depression. Without the support and the resources in the hospital and in the community, I think my story would have been much different. When you're experiencing it on your own, it really changes your perspective,” Cadwell says.
Cadwell is thankful to have hospital resources and community support, but it may be too late for some mothers in rural communities to get help.
On Monday, a Byron, Wyoming woman shot her four young daughters before turning the gun on herself. This tragedy has raised questions within our local communities regarding postpartum care.
Back in 2016, a Bozeman woman shot and killed her husband and their infant before killing herself.
“A lot of things changed in our community after that. We got a lot of people involved, and we kind of realized, oh, we are in a more rural community," Cadwell says. "When you have people who aren't necessarily by family or support, one of the biggest things we need to be focusing on is, how do we support our families, how do we support our friend? It is not something we inherently know how to do, especially when thinking about perinatal and postpartum mood disorders.”
Cadwell says that one in five women experience postpartum or perinatal mood disorders; however, she believes those numbers are off.
“It is much higher than that. I think one in five women will talk to their providers about their concerns, but I feel that it occurs at a much higher incidence than one in five. It is really important we recognize how relevant it is, and it's important we recognize how many women are affected by this,” she says.
Cadwell goes on to say both partners can be affected by postpartum mental health challenges.
“We have wonderful resources through women's specialists, Bozeman Health Hospital, and many great organizations in the community,” Cadwell says.
Resources can be found here:
- https://www.bozemanhealth.org/calendar/events/postpartum-support-group/?calendardate=20211021133000
- http://www.postpartum.net/
- http://purplecrying.info/
- https://www.rootsfamilycollaborative.com/
Bozeman Health Newborn Feeding Support Services can be reached at 406-414-5578.
