Should I get evaluated for PPA?
Hi! I need some advice as I don't know where the line is between regular newborn anxiety and postpartum anxiety. This is in other subs to get more opinions too lol. My baby is 4 months old & an absolute joy! Rarely cries, sleeps through the night, & is just overall the best lil kid I could ever dream of.
However, I live right in tornado alley and when baby was about a month old, we had a tornado warning & had to shelter with him in the bath, as we don't have anywhere safer (live in a trailer, no basement, interior walls, etc.). Since then, I have had severe anxiety about storms, & any time we are predicted any sort of thunderstorm, we'll drive half an hour to our closest family with a basement. I dissociate when there's heavy rain or thunder, and immediately have to pack a bag in case we need to leave. Apart from the storms, I'm worried about absolutely anything happening to my baby: someone breaking in at night & taking him, waking up and he's not breathing, even in the carseat, I have to check to make sure he's still breathing if I can't hear him babbling (one of us is always in the backseat with baby), baby overheating, etc.
I feel like most of these are rational fears, but my husband seems a lot less concerned than I do (not for lack of caring, my anxiety is just SO much worse). My husband supports everything I feel and do, and has encouraged me to bring it up if I feel it's bad enough. I also had a traumatic birth, which I know can raise the risk of postpartum anxiety.
I would love to hear opinions! I just wouldn't want to waste time out at the doctor's office where there's sick people and risk the baby's health if I don't need to.