Hi everyone,I'm not entirely sure what to do about this. I've attempted to make a phone/virtual appointment with a therapist and also our newborn son's pediatrician to see if they can point me in the right direction, but no one has been able to get back to me yet.My wife and I had a baby about six weeks ago. She has a history of hormonal fluctuation, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, and mild depression. During pregnancy, I've never seen her feel better. We talked openly about this and both believe it was the influx of positive hormones overriding some of the issues she normally has (and no monthly cycle). We also both openly acknowledged during the pregnancy that given her history of hormonal challenges, post-partum depression could be a real possibility.Now, about six weeks after the pregnancy, it *appears* as if postpartum depression is hitting her hard. She claims that that's simply not the case, and I want to be respectful of her and her feelings, but there is clearly something out of the ordinary going on. She claims that it's because I'm not taking care of her (which I could totally understand if I was neglecting her or the baby, working late, going out with friends, ignoring her, etc. But outside of desperately trying to keep up with work, my entire life is focused around trying to take care of her and the baby. I get up when she gets up, change all the diapers, rush to be the first to take care of the baby when she is crying, try to give my wife as much down/alone time as possible, etc. It is my world at the moment and I am 110% committed to trying to take care of her and the baby as much as possible, even to the neglect of my own mental and physical health.This week, I went back to work full-time for the first time. Three of the five work days, she has gotten in touch with me, sobbing hysterically, saying that she needs help and she can't take care of the baby alone. In addition, I worked from home one day to attempt to help out, and heard her crying hysterically upstairs (though this time she had not talked to me yet). Each time I've had to drop everything at work to take care of the baby while she has a chance to recover. Even after we both agreed it was not sustainable, it kept happening. My work production is suffering, but of course that's not my main concern right now.She claims that she can just power through how she is feeling and take care of our daughter anyway, but she sobs the entire time, and I'm worried about how that will affect the baby and her health.She has been increasingly irritated with me and has gotten angry at my parenting techniques or for no reason at all. A couple of days ago she accused me of hiding things from her that I was doing with the baby that I thought would make her mad. (She was furious and claimed I hid something in my pocket when she walked into the room, which happened to be a napkin I was wiping the baby's mouth with).I sat down with her and expressed how much I loved her and cared about her and our daughter, and gently suggested that she might be suffering from some postpartum depression, that it's totally normal and that she's doing an awesome job, but that there is help available.This made her absolutely livid with me, and she was furious with me for the rest of the day for being so offensive and disrespectful as to even suggest she might have some postpartum depression. Getting her to talk to a doctor or therapist about what she is experiencing seems entirely out of the question, and our relationship simply goes to crap if I so much as mention it.At this point, I'm not sure what to do. I feel like she needs help, it's normal to need some help with this and there are some simple things out there that could help her feel better. But she seems to be in vehement denial right now. Is there anything I can do? via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/3z7EjTO
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