Chorevia

Day 265 of 280 · 37 weeks + 6 days

A plan for your mood after

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 6 sources · Plain-text version

Thirty-seven weeks and six days. Baby blues pass in days; depression lasts longer. Today you choose who checks on you at two weeks, and save the numbers.

Size this week
about the length of a leek
Length this week
around 48.6 cm from head to heel
Two women at a café table by a window, one heavily pregnant in a denim shirt, the other a friend leaning in and typing a reminder into her own phone, soft afternoon light.

Thirty-seven weeks and six days. Most birth plans stop at the birth. Today's plan starts two weeks after it, with one question somebody will ask you and mean.

Your baby

A single leek with its green top on a plain pale wooden table, soft window light.

Around now your baby is around 48.6cm long from head to heel, about the length of a leek, and full term: probably big enough and mature enough to survive in the outside world (NHS). Your baby will need a lot from you in the weeks after birth. Part of that is you being well.

Your body

Your hormones are about to make a sharp turn. Estrogen and progesterone peak in pregnancy, then fall to pre-pregnancy levels within the first 24 hours after delivery, and researchers suspect that rapid shift plays a part in postpartum depression (OWH).

About 1 in 8 new mothers report symptoms of postpartum depression in the year after childbirth (OWH). The baby blues are different: they typically fade within a few days. Postpartum depression usually starts within the first month, and symptoms lasting beyond 2 weeks may be a sign of it (OWH). It can also start any time in the first year (OWH). And it isn't only depression: anxiety can come during pregnancy as well as after (NICHD).

Try today

  1. The postpartum-mood plan

    Time: 10 minutes

    1. Choose one person, not your partner, who will ask you two weeks after the birth: "How are you, really?" Two weeks, because symptoms that last beyond 2 weeks may be postpartum depression (OWH).

    2. Ask them to set a reminder for two weeks after your due date, and to move it when the baby comes.

    3. Save two numbers in both phones: call or text 988, and call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline, 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262) (CDC). The hotline is free, confidential, and staffed around the clock, in English, Spanish, and more than 60 other languages (NICHD).

    4. Write who you'd call first. The OWH names a doctor, nurse, midwife, or your baby's pediatrician (OWH).

    Make it work:

    Pick the friend who will ask twice if you say "fine" the first time.

Watch for

  • Normal

    the baby blues in the days after birth, which typically fade within a few days (OWH).

    Call your provider

    if sadness lasts more than two weeks; don't wait for the postpartum visit (OWH).

  • Normal

    feeling unsure you're doing it right.

    Call your provider today

    if you can't care for yourself or the baby (OWH).

  • Normal

    a passing dark thought you can set down.

    Call 911

    , or call or text 988 or 1-833-TLC-MAMA, for thoughts about harming yourself or your baby (CDC).

For you

Any woman can become depressed during pregnancy or after having a baby, and it does not make her a bad mother (OWH). Doctors are advised to ask about symptoms of depression during and after pregnancy, whatever your risk (OWH). When they ask, answer honestly. It's a routine question, not a judgment.

If you're the partner: this plan covers you too. Emerging research suggests 1 in 10 new fathers may experience depression during or after pregnancy (OWH). Pick your own two-week person.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

Get each day’s note the morning it applies

Add your due date to a free Chorevia household, and every morning until the birth the day's note arrives in the app and by email: what's forming, what your body is doing, one thing to try, what to watch for, and a word for you.

Create your household