I never thought I would be able to rest again. My body was so tired, so wired, that I was only sleeping a few hours a night and unable to nap during the day. This was normal, I told myself. I just had a baby; I wasn't supposed to be resting. Instead, I dealt with constantly racing thoughts that could bring me to tears — thoughts that something bad could happen to my baby. All the while, I told myself that having constant stress and worry would be worth it.....

2 months postpartum, I tipped over into the debilitating side of anxiety. I couldn't control my thoughts. They were running the show. My once stable hormones and mood were nosediving. That's when I realized I was dealing with postpartum anxiety, an excessive worrying that can happen after childbirth leaving parents to feel constantly nervous or panicked, according to the Cleveland Clinic. I wasn't prepared for it at all. I'd heard of postpartum depression, but never postpartum anxiety. No one in my world was discussing it. I'd been conditioned to think that new moms are expected to worry. While some worry is adaptive and helpful, I had tipped over from adaptive to maladaptive, functional to harmful.

On the surface, I was happy to be a mom, I was bonding with my baby, and I was getting things done. At the same time, I wasn't leaving the house.

I'm not alone in this experience, either. According to the Cleveland Clinic, 11%-21% of women experience postpartum anxiety. But the condition hasn't garnered nearly as much recognition. Why? "It masquerades as being a good mom," says Felicia Andrews, LCSW, a therapist in private practice specializing in maternal mental health.

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Corinne Hardisty is a licensed marriage and family therapist, a clinical director at GT Healthcare, and a freelance writer. She graduated from the UC San Diego and the University of San Diego.

GT Healthcare specializes in Mental Health, Family Medicine, and Nutrition. Visit https://www.gthealthcare.org/our-team to book an appointment today.