By Charles T.M.J. Dube

SOMETIME last week, I attended a funeral service at the Martin Luther Church in Harare.
It was for the wife of a fellow scribe who passed away and she was laid to rest at Glen Forest Memorial Park.
She, sadly committed suicide five months after giving birth to her third child.
This was a very sad and sensitive funeral.
As master of ceremonies at the funeral service though with no brief to tell the mourners about the cause of death, I felt oblige to give a hint from what I had gathered in my own layman’s language.
Just like hormonal changes happen in a woman’s body when she falls pregnant, which cause mood and behavioural changes, the same happens after giving birth.
In all the testimonies, friends and relatives had spoken to the deceased’s deep godly and prayerful life.
None had spoken about bouts of demonic behaviour during her youth and early marriage life.
The husband corroborated, sharing with mourners the medical report issued after the postmortem.
There was no suicidal note and no reports of some family misunderstanding, which had prompted the interviewing doctor to initially recommend a police investigation and open a criminal case.
On second thoughts, they went ahead with the postmortem and the result was a pointer to something known as postpartum psychosis.
According to medical reports, it is related to baby blues and post-natal depression which affect a significant percentage of women after giving birth.
I was hearing this for the first time.
Reverend Dr Chiropafadzo Moyo who also spoke at the funeral further expounded this largely unknown side of giving birth.
Her sermon was based on personal experiences with her daughter after she gave birth.
She had had to share a bed with her daughter for almost a year, who after her first delivery exhibited very little interest in providing maternal care for her baby.
She went on to talk about another case in which a young mother also took her life after those around her failed to detect this postpartum psychosis.
In this unfortunate case, a husband, faced with quarrelsome behaviour of his wife after child birth, reported this ‘strange’ behaviour to his in-laws who were quick to dispatch the wife’s mother for investigations.
After completing her own investigations, the mother concluded that her daughter was in the wrong and like all loving mothers proceeded to advise her to behave honourably to save her marriage.
A few days later, the young mother committed suicide leaving a note to the effect that she had killed herself because her mother had scolded her.
I learnt that this unfortunate ending of one’s life was happening all around and was something that if detected and managed early, could be cured.
Another bishop who spoke made it clear that when people come for prayers and counselling, they should not stop taking their medications.
It was a brief, but loaded talk.
Religion and science were now on one page, thanks to openness and knowledge sharing.
Later, I sat down to enquire from the husband if his wife was on medication.
“Was she on medication and had she experienced similar problems with her other two children?” I asked.
Unfortunately, she was not on medication as they were not familiar with the post-natal condition and were not even aware she needed help.
She exhibited no problems at all during her nine months prenatal stages.
But he recalled that after her first delivery, she exhibited a lot of temper tantrums.
Doctors describe this experience as post-natal depression.
During this last delivery, the husband had noticed some behavioural changes in his wife, which unfortunately he had not taken very seriously.
The signs of indifference, fatigue and hints to depressive moods were all there.
It has been scientifically shown that a woman after giving birth can suffer from hormonal imbalances and develop rapid mood swings.
Some marriages have broken down owing to behaviour exhibited after the birth of a child, but the mother would literally not be in control of herself due to hormonal imbalances.
I will research more on the issue and in my next article highlight the various stages of this condition, which, depending on its stages, can be called ‘baby blues’, post-natal disorder or postpartum psychosis.