New mom Katie Stevens is looking to shed light on a topic that she believes doesn't receive as much attention: postpartum depression.
Nearly six months after welcoming her first child, Rome, with husband Paul DiGiovanni, The Bold Type star is opening up about the realities of being a new mom and the challenges she's faced along the way.
Katie took to her personal Instagram story on Monday where she shared a series of videos detailing her experience with PPD, which included panic attacks and an increase in anxiety.
"As most of you know, I just had a baby in February, and postpartum time is wild,” Katie said in her first video. “If any of you have listened to the episode of the Hold My Hair? podcast that I did, I talked a little bit about how I struggled with some postpartum depression.”
“I feel like people don’t talk about it enough. It looks different for everyone. For me, my anxiety got way worse. I was just overwhelmed all the time. And I personally have a severe allergy to asking for help, so I didn’t want to do that.”
Katie went on to discuss another topic that she believes flies under the radar when discussing pregnancy and motherhood, and that's the feeling of not being able to recognize herself.
“Also a layer of my postpartum which I feel women don’t talk about, because they harbor some guilt around it, is just not recognizing myself.”
“Obviously, my role as a mother is one of the best jobs I’ve ever had in my entire life, but you go through a period that no one told me about where you just don’t recognize yourself.”
“When you have a baby, as soon as the baby is born, you’re also born as a mother, and there are things that you gain and things that you lose. For me, obviously, your independence and getting to do whatever you want."
"And now I have my daughter who I think of before everything now, and I wouldn’t change that for the world, but I definitely had to go through a grieving process of my old life.”
Katie admitted part of the PPD still lingers because she's in a body that she doesn't recognize as her own. She stressed the importance of grieving your former life as your mind tries to catch up to all the changes happening to your body, physically and emotionally.
“I had many nights where I was having panic attacks and sleepless nights because of it [postpartum depression] and I’m very lucky that I have a wonderful partner, I have wonderful family and friends that really rallied around me and helped me through that."
“I still have my down days, but everybody told me, it gets better, and there will be days that the sun shines more that’s definitely been true for me.”
But despite her journey of self-discovery after childbirth, Katie admitted she's in no rush to "bounce back." She's relearning to take care of herself and her energy.
She concluded her videos by letting fans know she is absolutely "having the best time" with her daughter, and if anyone had any tips on motherhood, she's all ears.
