I wanted to thank you for all the kind support I received from the list
members after the death of my nephew's wife.
Her death has officially been ruled as a "suicide related to postpartum
depression/psychosis."
In the two weeks following the miscarriage and before she took her life, she
was seen several times by the doctors at the base because of uncontrollable
crying, sleep loss, lethargy etc... They told my nephew that they missed the
diagnosis of post partum psychosis because after all "it was only a
miscarriage."  The doctors have expressed that they deeply regret their error.
My educated guess is that her depression was a carried over from the first
baby, 9 months prior (breastfed only 3 weeks) .  The miscarriage just pushed
her over the edge-- from depression toward psychosis.
We have learned there is one small cause for thankfulness: that she took ONLY
her life. Apparently she was planning to take the baby and my nephew as well.
I can't imagine feeling that life is so bad that you want to *save* yourself
and your family from it.
What I have found in my years of practice is that many people accept
postpartum depression as a normal thing and are reluctant to seek help. Women
often tell me that admitting the depression was severe enough to ask for help
was like saying they were wimping out. They constantly tell me that they just
didn't think their depression was *that bad.*
We need to pay attention to new moms (and moms who loose a pregnancy) and
their feelings. Maybe we need to listen to them just a little more. Maybe we
need to recommend that they seek help a little sooner.  Postpartum depression
can and does kill.

My recovery is going VERY SLOWLY. I have only set one goal: to be well enough
for ILCA in July.
Marie Davis, RN, IBCLC