DOWN CAME THE RAIN

My Journey Through Postpartum Depression

by BROOKE SHIELDS

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Used softcover book in very good condition, 226 pages, published 2005. First edition, first printing, cover has minor creasing at corners.

"At first I thought what I was feeling was just exhaustion, but with it came an overriding sense of panic that I had never felt before with fatigue. Rowan kept crying and I suddenly began to fear the moment when Chris would bring her back to me. I started to experience a sick sensation in my stomach; it was as if a vise was tightening around my chest. Instead of the nervous anxiety that often accompanies panic, a feeling of quiet devastation overcame me. I hardly moved. Sitting on my bed, I let out a deep, slow, guttural wail. I wasn't simply emotional or weepy like I had been told I might be. This was something quite different. When PMS made me introspective or melancholy or when the pressures of life made me gloomy, I knew these feelings wouldn't last forever. But this was sadness of a shockingly different magnitude. It felt as if it would never go away."
- Brooke Shields, from Down Came the Rain

In this compelling memoir, Brooke Shields talks candidly about her experience with postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter, and provides millions of women with an inspiring example of recovery. When Brooke welcomed her newborn daughter, Rowan Francis Henchy, into the world, something unexpected followed - a crippling depression. Brooke talks about the trials, tribulations, and finally the triumphs that occurred before, during, and after the birth of her daughter.

In what will strike a chord with millions of women, Brooke openly shares the story of how she battled a condition that is widely misunderstood, despite the fact that it affects one on ten mothers. She discusses the illness in the context of her own life, including her struggle to get pregnant; the high expectations she had for herself and that society as well as others placed on her as a new mother; and the roles her husband, friends and family played as she struggled to attain her maternal footing in the midst of severe postpartum depression. And, ultimately, Brooke tells how she found a way out through talk therapy, medication and time.

Brooke has grown up in the public eye, but this is the story of what happened to the private woman, the one the world hasn't seen before. With intelligence, humour and startling honesty, Brooke speaks directly to the reader, making us feel close to her experience, her pain and her ultimate triumph.

About the author