[LiteraryLark]

I posted this in the women's forum, but I'd like the perspective of those who are bipolar:

http://forums.psychcentral.com/women...ml#post4290708

My question is, what was it like for you to be pregnant and bipolar? Did you take medications while pregnant? Did you have symptoms while pregnant? How severe were your symptoms? How did the hormones of pregnancy affect your symptoms? Was your baby healthy at birth? Does your baby now have any mental illnesses or medical conditions?

Thank you.

[wildflowerchild25]

When I was pregnant I was busy denying I had bipolar. I wasn't on any medication buty episodes were much milder than they are now. I don't remember being upset much during pregnancy. I had a lot of problems after my son was born, mostly because he just did not sleep so I didn't sleep and that didn't work out for me. My son was healthy at birth. Right now he is only four but has been havin behavior issues at school, mainly screaming no at his teachers and having major tantrums. I attribute this to the fact that I was hospitalized twice in October and I think that scared him because I disappeared for two weeks each time. I have no doubt my son will be diagnosed with at least adhd but only time will tell.

Hi. I was actually dx while pregnant. I was incredibly depressed. I likely would have attempted suicide had I not been pregnant. I was on wellbutrin. As soon as my son was born, I was put on Abilify. The birth went well, but they had to work on the baby a bit to get him breathing. He slept really well, actually too well. He was a lazy eater. Breastfeeding was difficult. He would go hours and hours without wanting to eat. I would have to take all his clothes off so he would eat. He's now 2. He's a very strong willed child. We've had to adjust our parenting styles a bit to deal with his behaviour. But, I would rather nip it in the bud now rather than deal with this kind of behaviour later. We are also contemplating having another in the future. But I would have to go off my meds at least for the first trimester, and I don't know if I could do that. I would also like to add that I had terrible anxiety after he was born. My pdoc switched my meds around and put me on Zoloft. I also had intrusive thoughts, which was terrible.
Good luck to you.