Following Wife’s Postpartum Suicide, This Pittsburgh Dad is Helping New Moms Struggling with Mental Illness

The demands of motherhood were taking their toll.

“Alexis would just cry and cry and say, ‘I can’t do this,’” D’Achille said. “I would find her on the closet floor, on the ground, crying her eyes out.

Recognizing her own struggle, Alexis did one of the most courageous things a person could do: she asked for help.

But doctors reassured the couple that her postpartum struggles were simply just the “baby blues,” and things would improve soon. But they never did.

Together, the Pittsburgh couple visited SEVEN different crisis centers and hospitals to get help for Alexis.

D’Achille later learned his wife had postpartum psychosis, a rare but extremely serious postpartum mental condition that causes delusions, hallucinations and often results in death by suicide according to Postpartum Support International.

Most people are only familiar with postpartum depression. But there are other mental health conditions including postpartum anxiety, psychosis or OCD, which also manifest during this period.

Her doctor doubled her antidepressant medication, but Alexis, who affectionately called her husband, “Pop,” felt the change only made matters worse.

“She said ‘Pop as soon as I got on the (medication) it is making me have all these bad bad thoughts,’” Steven recalled.

On their wedding anniversary in October 2013, Alexis asked for help one final time.

Steven says his wife begged him to take her to the hospital where she told the doctor about suicidal thoughts she was having and insisted she had a plan in place.

Once again, the doctor assured her it was nothing to worry about and sent her home.

“The doctor pulled me aside and said, ‘She is going to be fine,’” Steven remembers. “I can’t believe I was stupid enough to listen to him.”


Bri Lamm
Bri Lamm
Bri Lamm is the Editor of foreverymom.com. An outgoing introvert with a heart that beats for adventure, she lives to serve the Lord, experience the world, and eat macaroni and cheese all while capturing life’s greatest moments on one of her favorite cameras. Follow her on Facebook.

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