Ankita Bhargava Talks About Postpartum Depression, Reveals How Being Creative Had Helped Her [Video]

As per a study published by the WHO in 2017, approximately one in five mothers in India, who have just embraced motherhood, suffers from postpartum depression. The seriousness of the ailment is yet not normalised in India as it is often dismissed as ‘baby blues' that will magically go away with time and even today, not many women know about PPD, let alone knowing how to overcome it. We live in a world, which has painted the picture of motherhood as a glorious journey but when a woman is unhappy post-delivery, she starts feeling guilty and it leads to falling deeper into depression. Thanks to some celeb moms, who have taken an effort to sensitise the society so that the newbie mothers can get the help they need to cope with PPD. (Also Read: Amrita Rao Enters The Ninth Month Of Pregnancy, Shares A Picture With Anmol Cradling Her Baby Bump)

Ankita Bhargava, who had embraced motherhood in December 2019, never steps back when it comes to sharing her experiences and speaking her heart out. A few days back, Ankita had posted pictures with her baby girl, Mehr Patel and was trolled for not showing the face of her ten-month-old-daughter. In a perfect reply to the negative comments and trolls, Ankita had posted a picture, which had “Excuse me! Ye lijiye aapki soch. Mujhe giri hui mili thi” written on it. Ankita had captioned the picture as “Ye Lijiye! #saynototrolls #trollthemback #whystaysilent #enoughisenough.”

Ankita Bhargava had started her Instagram page, Love Messy Munchkins, wherein she talks about her pregnancy and motherhood journey. From her experience with rainbow pregnancy to the cravings and her birth plan, Ankita shares her experiences on her IG handle. In a conversation with her ‘soul sister’, Tanvi S Parekh for her first live video from Love Messy Munchkins, Ankita talked about postpartum depression. Speaking about how one can explore their creative side to deal with depression, Ankita said, “Start prepping early. Recognise. If you are suffering from depression, recognise it and be aware of it. Try to make other people in the family aware about it. What I did was, I got into painting at that point of time. I started writing. I believe once you know what you’re going through, it’s important to do creative things.”

 

 

Sometime back, sharing a picture with hubby, Karan Patel embracing her as she held two cute little baby shoes in her hands, Ankita had shared her birth plan and captioned it as “My Birth Plan. There was none to begin with... Till the 38th week I didnt decide on what type of birthing I was going to aim at... I wanted a healthy baby in my arms irrespective of the way i may or may not have birthed the baby! From my best friends super spooky and dangerous normal delivery to Karans best friend’s wife’s life endangering normal delivery to our common friend’s easy peasy C-Section To epidural horrors to 10min No pain Normal deliveries... I heard them all... Loud and Clear! And to my surprise All the girls who went through a horrid time in their normal deliveries made me promise them that I would go for a C section for their sake... Well, I wasn’t convinced till then and I wanted to Play it by the ear! Cos one can’t actually make such assumptions since everybody is different!” (Also Read: Shilpa Shetty Speaks About Postpartum Depression After Delivering Viaan, Feels Grateful For Samisha)

Speaking about the cervical stitch she had taken in the 16th week of her pregnancy, Ankita Bhargava continued, “But since I had taken a cervical stitch in my 16th week, Some/Lots of Scar Tissue was expected which in turn would make Normal delivery Difficult/Impossible/Normal/Troublesome or A complete waste of an attempt! These possibilities were discussed before hand with my gynac! Honestly, this was always lurking at the back of my mind...! My gynac attempted a Swoop at 38.4Wks in hopes that I might go into labour within 24-48hrs if there is no scar tissue to deal with! As expected I did not! Hence, the Scar Tissue theory turns out to be true in my case! But the moment I finished my 39th week, I reacted badly to one of my super healthy breakfasts which always included An Egg. I puked so much that I felt super weak, I ran a temp and had severe body ache!”

Concluding with how she had finally decided to go with C-section delivery, Ankita Bhargava wrote, “Karan & I didn’t wanna take any chances this time and we decided to get admitted to the hospital at 10 in the night and be ready & prepared for EVERYTHING BEFORE HAND! My fever wasn’t subsiding, My body was hurting, My baby’s heart rate was touching 180 beats per min and there was a loop of my umbilical cord around her neck too... This day was when I was personally convinced with my FINAL DECISION and elected for a C-Section! I didn’t need to prove anything to anyone by going through this super human experience of Vaginal Delivery! I JUST WANTED MY BABY IN MY ARMS HAPPY AND HEALTHY.” (Also Read: Esha Deol Addresses Postpartum Depression Post Miraya's Birth, Shares How Mom Hema Malini Noticed It)

Thank you Ankita and Tanvi for speaking on postpartum depression and taking a step to create awareness about it.

Images Courtesy: Ankita Bhargava 

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