Therapy for Perinatal Health Complications, Birth Trauma, and NICU Parents

Perinatal Therapist in Chicago, Illinois

Picture of new mom who experienced medical complications

“I wasn’t prepared for this…”

You knew having a baby would be challenging but you couldn’t anticipate the medical complications. It makes sense that it’s been hard to cope with what happened.

Even when everyone is healthy by the end, the experience of a medically complex pregnancy, birth, postpartum, or newborn experience can have a significant emotional impact. Perinatal therapy can help you make sense of and heal from difficult pregnancy and postpartum experiences.

Parent and Baby in NICU

“I need help to stop thinking about what happened during birth.”

Too many new moms have terrifying birth experiences but don’t get the emotional care they deserve afterwards. If you are feeling sad, scared, or overwhelmed by your experience with pregnancy or childbirth, therapy for birth trauma help you make sense of your experience and cope with the emotional impact.

“This is not what I wanted the first weeks with my baby to be like. How do I adjust?”

Sadly, NICU parents miss out on many newborn experiences they dreamed about. Bonding time, feeding, and bringing your baby home doesn’t look at all how you hoped it would. It is normal to feel sadness and loss (not to mention worry) when parenting a baby in the NICU. Therapy can help you process this experience and adapt to the challenges of having a baby who needs additional medical care.

How Therapy Can Help

If you are having trouble moving on after a difficult pregnancy or postpartum experience, you deserve help to heal from what happened. You don’t need to “forget about it” or “just be more grateful.”

Talking about what you went through will help you grieve the loss of the experience you expected to have and cope with ongoing challenges.

If you would like to discuss how therapy can benefit you, reach out to schedule an introductory consultation call.

Signs you may benefit from therapy after a perinatal health complication:

  • You keep thinking about the scary things that happened

  • You have bad dreams about what happened

  • Reminders of birth or the hospital are very upsetting

  • You feel disconnected, sad, or scared a lot of the time

  • You can’t relax or focus

  • Your pregnancy or birth experiences are impacting your relationships or daily life