Bryce Dallas Howard like many women suffered from severe post partum depression, and more importantly, like many, many women she was in denial about what was controlling her life.
E! first alerted us to the article that Bryce had written on Gwenneth Paltrow’s blog. It’s an incredible read. If you have ever suffered with this disorder or know someone who has you’ll cry in recognition. If not, it’s really something every woman should read because you don’t know if it could strike you.
“A friend invited me to a “pow-wow” of mothers (in a tepee nonetheless); there we talked about the trials and tribulations of motherhood. The woman next to me coined the phrase “post partum denial,” and hearing her story helped me to understand my own. When I shared, somewhat disconnectedly and inarticulately some of my own disappointments, my feeling of not measuring up to what Theo deserved in a mother, one woman responded, “It takes a long time for them to grow up. You’ll have time to discover the kind of mother you are.” Another woman suggested I read Brooke Shields “Down Came the Rain.” Her book was a revelation.
Then one day I was sitting in my home with my best friend and my sister, and out of nowhere I got this sudden feeling of summer. When I told them they looked at me curiously and chuckled a little. I searched for a better way to describe my feelings, “I dunno, I just got this feeling… like everything is going to be okay.”
My depression was lifting. Later that day, I saw one of my closest friends; the person who had performed our wedding ceremony and had also videotaped Theo’s birth. He looked at me and without skipping a beat he said, “My friend is back.” I smiled. “It’s like you’ve been abducted by ‘The Borg’ for a year and a half, and now you’re back.”
What’s the Twilight connection you might ask? Though not stated in this article, this was the point in time that they were casting the first movie and then shooting it. Full article is here (scroll down a bit)
You know that I love the article. It’s true many of us don’t know what going on after giving birth. It feels like a gray cloud comes over you and you really don’t understand it.Like your in the dark and trying to find the door to the out side and you just can;t find it. Thanks for posting the article should might shed some light how to beat the PPD.
)
Thank you for posting this.
i suffered from it. i listened to what my body said. as a woman why you would ignore your body and thoughts and feelings are beyond me. when you have it like i did you KNOW something is wrong.
no one tells you about this when you are pregnant with your first baby. All they talk about is how wonderful and cute everything is. But, its an ugly truth that all women should be educated by the doctors while pregnant so they dont feel isolated and alone when the time comes.
Tamran, alot of women feel ashamed or embarrassed. And women feel it all levels. ESPECIALLY if it’s your first baby, you don’t know what you’re feeling.
I suffered with it also with my last two children. This NEEDS to be talked about. This is more common than people actually think. : )
It’s not until you’re actually out of the depression , that you realise you were in it!
i guess i’m lucky that i had a doctor that talks to me about all things. that’s why he is a God send to me. but i also had friends that helped me as well. i don’t know why any person would be ashamed of needing help. i have one child and that’s all and when i started looking at him and thinking i screwed up and couldn’t touch him i knew something was wrong. that type of feeling is not right. why wouldn’t you ask for help. i knew i wanted him but my mind wouldn’t let me get near him and i called my doc. i still suffer from mild depression and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. some of us just have some problems.
i do agree it needs to be talked about and it’s more common than people think. we have the world at our finger tips here on the net and i know that personally have friends and family i can talk. again i’m also lucky that i trust my OBGYN with my life and can talk to him about anything. having that trust is really important when it comes to being a woman.
I have to say that asking for help is difficult for some women. I for one had a snowball effect. I suffered from postpartum depression with my first daughter, and then after my second. It wasn’t until I realized that I really needed to get help in order to care for my girls. I was ashamed of asking for help. I thought that it was what made me weak, that I was much stronger than that. It took the hospital staff to convince me otherwise. I was extremely lucky to have such wonderful friends to help me through that difficult time and care for my girls while I was unable.
I cried my eyes out reading this. After going through PPD after both my son’s births I can physically feel Bryce’s pain coming through her words. To live with so much pain during such a wonderful time in your life, there are hardly words to describe it but she did a ourstanding job. Twilightlexicon, thank you for posting this. I can only hope Bryce reads some our posts to know how thankful I am for her sharing this. Thank you Bryce!
yeah!!!…:)