Postpartum mental illness: The health crisis no expectant mother expects
Eva Schwartz didn’t have a history of mental illness. There were never any indicators that the birth of her first child would spark a years-long struggle that would threaten her marriage and her life.
Schwartz was 29 in 2015, with a stable home life in Sacramento, as she awaited the arrival of her firstborn son, Isaac. She felt prepared. She had taken all the classes, followed all the mommy pages on Facebook. She was going to have a natural birth, she said, and exclusively breastfeed once Isaac was born.