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It was only about 24 hours after my first child was born that I realized my life would never be the same. As I stared at his little face in the maternity wing, I knew that my life was now about taking care of him first, and me second; that I would have to change my entire life to accommodate this new addition.

There was some joy in this realization, but mostly fear. Lack of sleep and issues nursing didn’t help. I remember being up in the middle of the night nursing and crying—crying because I would never have my old life back again, crying because I was so, so tired, and crying because it felt like razor blades every time I fed my newborn son.

Then came the colic. Around 4 weeks, my son started crying for hours and hours every day for no discernible reason. There were times where I would lay my crying son down in his crib and then go into my bedroom and shut the door so I could cry as well.

And the worst part about all of this is that I was alone. My husband went back to work, and I had to bear the brunt of this all by myself, with no one to hold the baby so I could take a shower, nap, or even cry alone in my bedroom.

Differentiating Between the Major Post-Partum Challenges

What I was suffering from is called the post-partum blues. About 80–85 percent of women go through it. One in about seven women have post-partum depression, which is like what I went through, but worse. Women who have post-partum depression experience mood swings, frequent crying, and a lack of joy; they can also feel........

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