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A woman in Massachusetts strangled her three children and attempted to commit suicide last week. She had been diagnosed with post partum psychosis and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. She was subsequently released to five times a week outpatient treatment. Her husband had been working from home. When he left the house for about twenty minutes to pick up a food order, she strangled all three children (IIRC, ages 7, 5 and 9 months), killing the two older kids. She then tried to commit suicide by jumping out of a second story window. The infant was life-flighted to a hospital but died a day or two later. She has been charged with murder. I don't know if she is currently in a psychiatric hospital or in jail. Everyone is desperately hoping that the murder charges will be dropped and she'll receive psychiatric care. She was a nurse and the outpouring of support from her husband, friends and co-workers has been amazing; she is well loved in her community. Post-partum psychosis can come on suddenly and is marked by delusions and paranoia -- psychosis. There is no information at this point whether she had depression or PPS with her previous two kids. There is a lot of hope on social media that the horror of this incident will highlight the awareness of PPS and how severe it can be. This took me right back to Andrea Yates, who had a long history of mental illness. After suffering form major post-partum mental illness after the birth of her 4th child, her psychiatrist strongly advised against another pregnancy because the risk of another round of post partum psychosis was extremely high. But Rusty and Andrea were quiverfull and had a 5th child; Andrea was diagnosed with post partum psychosis. In the brief window (about 20 minutes) between when Rusty went to work and Rusty's mom arrived to stay with Andrea and help out as she did every day, Andrea drowned all of her children. She was tried for first degree murder and spent some years in prison. She was retried and found not guilty by reason of insanity. She is currently in a mental hospital in Kerrville, TX and will likely spent the rest of her life there. Patriarch Rusty divorced Andrea, remarried and is living his best life. I'm in Texas and you may also be in a state that has or is in the process of outlawing abortion. It made me realize that there are women who have struggled with severe post-partum illness who have been advised to not have more children but find themselves pregnant. They will now be forced to carry that pregnancy knowing some very rocky, terrifying or even dangerous times lie ahead. This is especially true for single mothers without support.

I just watched a show about the Andrea Yates case. I was a kid when it happened so I didn't know too much about it. Holy goodness. It reminds me of different fundies we snark on. The living in a bus, following a preacher who says most people are going to hell, the no birth control despite major mental health issues, etc. It was very upsetting and tragic. Wow. I had no idea. It makes things like Teri Maxwell's depression in her quiverfull, religious, homeschooling lifestyle sound even more dangerous than I thought. A Mother's Madness: