Are you likely to suffer the post-partum depression?

You've just had a wonderful baby. Exactly what you were dreaming about for months or maybe years. But you still feel that something is off. What is it? Are you suffering from the post-partum depression? What is the best cure?
You are not alone. Some 80% of women experience some mood disturbances after pregnancy. They feel upset, alone, afraid and unloving to their baby and above all they feel guilty for feeling all of these feelings.
Childbirth is a time of great change for a woman. The adjustment to these changes can contribute to depression. 

• Physical changes after delivery
• Many changes occur after delivery, including changes in muscle tone and difficulty losing weight. 
• A lot of women are simply tired after giving birth
• You may feel soreness and even pain weeks after your delivery. Physical recovery after cesarean delivery may take even longer than after vaginal delivery
• Some women feel guilty after a C-section, telling themselves that their baby was left alone (it was the main reason for my post-partum depression)
• changes in hormons can cause mood swings

There are however certain women who in a short period of time tend to adapt to these changes and recover. In a few weeks they feel happier and more stable emotionally. Now, in my opinion this depends a lot on what you were expecting from your delivery. Some women plan to stay home babysitting and taking care of the house. The routine does not scare them and does not make them unhappy.
I was not among these women. I had to force myself to like the way my life was after my baby was born. It was so routine I felt I had no air and this had nothing to do with my baby. If you are among those women who before their pregnancy never stayed home and never liked routine, you might find it very difficult to adapt.. Unless, you start bringing something more creative to your day. Maybe you could do a part of your work during your baby's sleep. When you have a couple of hours for yourself to do what you like to do most, it will let you be more open emonionally towards your baby.
You will stop feeling guilty if you face the problem and tell yourself that you are not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of women just like you. Let's help each other and embrace the joy of being a mother... with a strong personality.

C-SECTION FACTS

Giving birth to your baby may be the most beautiful and unforgettable experience in your life, especially if you prepare for it before your term.
I was preparing myself for the natural vaginal birth with my baby, however I had to do the c-section due to certain conditions. I was traumatized at the thought of not being able to give birth naturally and thought of how much easier it would be if  I knew how c-section worked and what the real risks were.
The Surgery:
There are multiple layers that your surgeon must go through before reaching the baby. All in all from the start of surgery, until the birth of your baby is about 5-10 minutes. The doctor will use a combination of sharp instruments and blunt dissection as s/he goes through each layer. You may also hear whirring noises as a machine is used to caterize or burn small blood vessels to prevent bleeding. When the doctor reaches the uterus, you will also hear suctioning. After cutting through the uterus, the amniotic fluid will be suctioned away to make a bit more room in the uterus for the doctor's hands or instruments such as forceps or a vacuum extractor. Your baby is usually engaged in the pelvis, usually head down, but perhaps rear first or breech. Whatever part has entered the pelvis will be lifted out by the doctors. You may feel pressure at this point and some women report feeling nauseated during this intense, but brief moment. Once the head is out, your doctor will suction the baby's nose and mouth for fluids. In a vaginal birth these are normally squeezed out by labor and birth. In a cesarean birth, the baby needs some extra help getting rid of these fluids. If meconium is present there may be extra suctioning required.
However, before you consider the C-section for your baby's birth, you should also weigh the risks.   Cesarean birth is major surgery, and, as with other surgical procedures, risks are involved. The estimated risk of a woman dying after a cesarean birth is less than one in 2,500 (the risk of death after a vaginal birth is less than one in 10,000). There are normally serious medical indications leading you to c-section:

• prolonged labour
• fetal distress
• uterine rupture
• hypertension
• tachycardia
• placental problems
• failed labour induction
• overly large baby
• umbilical cord abnormalitie, etc.

Risks for mother include:

• Infection. The uterus or nearby pelvic organs such as the bladder or kidneys can become infected.
• Increased blood loss. Blood loss on the average is about twice as much with cesarean birth as with vaginal birth. However, blood transfusions are rarely needed during a cesarean.
• Decreased bowel function. The bowel sometimes slows down for several days after surgery, resulting in distention, bloating and discomfort.
• Respiratory complications. General anesthesia can sometimes lead to pneumonia.
• Longer hospital stay and recovery time. Three to five days in the hospital is the common length of stay, whereas it is less than one to three days for a vaginal birth.
• Reactions to anesthesia. The mother's health could be endangered by unexpected responses (such as blood pressure that drops quickly) to anesthesia or other medications during the surgery.
• Risk of additional surgeries. For example, hysterectomy, bladder repair, etc.
• Risk of adhesions.
• Risk to future fertility and babies. 
• Risk that future births will have to be surgical 
• Maternal death (very rare)

Risks for the baby:

•  Higher infant mortality risk: in c-sections which are performed with no indicated risk (singleton at full term in a head-down position), the risk of death in the first 28 days of life has been cited as 1.77 per 1,000 live births among women who had c-sections, compared to 0.62 per 1,000 for women who delivered vaginally
•  Wet lung: retention of fluid in the lungs can occur if not expelled by the pressure of contractions during labor
• Potential for early delivery and complications: Pre-term delivery is possible if due date calculation is inaccurate. One study found an increased risk of complications if a repeat elective Caesarean section is performed even a few days before the recommended 39 weeks

As for the anaesthesia, it is common to use the epidural or spinal anaesthesia during the c-section. Advantages of regional anesthesia include the absence of typical risks of general anesthesia: pulmonary aspiration of gastric contents and oesophageal intubation. Regional anaesthesia is used in 95% of deliveries, with spinal and combined spinal and epidural anaesthesia being the most commonly used regional techniques in scheduled Caesarean section.

the most beautiful statue in the world!

Placed at the centre of the nave of the Sansevero Chapel, the Veiled Christ is one of the most famous and impressive works of art in the world. It was the Prince’s wish that the statue be made by Antonio Corradini, who had already done Modesty for him. However, Corradini died in 1752 and only managed to make a terracotta scale model of the Christ, which is now preserved in the Museo di San Martino.

So Raimondo di Sangro appointed a young Neapolitan artist, Giuseppe Sanmartino, to make “a life-sized marble statue, representing Our Lord Jesus Christ dead, and covered in a transparent shroud carved from the same block as the statue”. 

Sanmartino paid little heed to the previous scale model made by the Venetian sculptor. Both in Modesty, and in the Veiled Christ, the original stylistic message is in the veil, but Sanmartino’s late baroque feeling and sentiment permeate the shroud with a movement and a meaning far removed from Corradini’s rules. The modern sensitivity of the artist sculpts and divests the lifeless body of its flesh, which the soft shroud mercifully covers, on which the tormented, writhing rhythms of the folds of the veil engrave deep suffering, almost as if the compassionate covering made the poor limbs still more naked and exposed, and the lines of the tortured body even more inexorable and precise.

The swollen vein still pulsating on the forehead, the wounds of the nails on the feet and on the thin hands, and the sunken side finally relaxed in the freedom of death are a sign of an intense search which has no time for preciosity or scholastic canons, even when the sculptor meticulously “embroiders” the edges of the shroud or focuses on the instruments of the Passion placed at the feet of Christ. Sanmartino’s art here becomes a dramatic evocation, that turns the suffering of Christ into the symbol of the destiny and redemption of all humanity.

Visit the Museum:

Museo Cappella Sansevero
Via Francesco De Sanctis, 19/21
80134 – Naples, Italy

Tel./fax: +39 081.5518470