Pregnancy & Postpartum Counseling
Because becoming a parent can be hard even when it's what you wanted most.
Pregnancy and new parenthood are supposed to be joyful. But for many people, they bring anxiety, depression, grief, or a profound sense of losing yourself. At Dancing Bee Counseling in Madison, Wisconsin, Abby Lemke, MS, LPC-IT provides specialized perinatal mental health support for the emotional challenges of pregnancy, postpartum, and the transition to parenthood.
Your Experience Matters
You imagined pregnancy would feel magical. Instead, you're navigating emotions you didn't expect. You thought you'd feel an instant connection when your baby arrived. Instead, you're finding your own path to parenthood, which looks different than what you pictured.
Maybe you worked hard to get here through infertility or loss, and now you're processing mixed emotions alongside the joy. Maybe this pregnancy was planned and wanted, and you're surprised by what you're feeling. Maybe you look at other new parents and wonder why your experience feels different.
The gap between expectations and reality isn't a personal failure. Many parents find that pregnancy and postpartum bring unexpected emotional challenges. You're not broken. You're not a bad parent. You're having a human experience that deserves support.
Perinatal counseling helps you process what you're feeling, develop coping strategies, and find your way to the parenthood experience you deserve. With the right support, you can feel like yourself again.
Pregnancy and Postpartum Are Both Meaningful Times for Support
Dancing Bee Counseling provides support during pregnancy, after birth, and through the entire transition to parenthood.
During Pregnancy
Prenatal emotional challenges are more common than most people realize, yet often go unrecognized. Seeking support during pregnancy is a sign of strength and self-awareness, not weakness.
Pregnancy Experiences We Support:
- Prenatal anxiety that makes it hard to enjoy your pregnancy
- Mood changes during pregnancy that feel isolating or confusing
- Pregnancy after infertility with complex emotions alongside the excitement
- Pregnancy after loss processing grief while holding hope
- High-risk pregnancy coping with bed rest, uncertainty, or complications
- Unplanned pregnancy processing complex feelings about your path forward
- Identity shifts during the transition to parenthood
After Birth
The fourth trimester brings its own experiences. Your body is healing, your hormones are shifting, sleep is scarce, and you're learning to care for a newborn. Many new parents benefit from support during this transition.
Postpartum Experiences We Support:
- Postpartum depression feeling different than you expected after baby
- Postpartum anxiety with racing thoughts and constant worry
- Intrusive thoughts scary thoughts that don't match who you are
- Intense emotions anger, overwhelm, or numbness you weren't prepared for
- Birth trauma processing a difficult delivery experience
- Finding your connection building your relationship with baby at your own pace
- Feeding challenges the emotions around breastfeeding and nourishing your baby
Recognizing When You Could Benefit from Perinatal Counseling
Not every difficult day means something is wrong. Parenthood is challenging for everyone. But when your experience feels persistently hard, or when emotions are affecting your daily life, relationships, or sense of self, support can make a real difference.
Emotional Experiences
- Sadness or emptiness that lingers
- Crying more than feels like you
- Feeling disconnected from yourself
- Anger or irritability that surprises you
- Emotions that feel bigger than you can manage
Worry and Anxiety
- Constant concern about your baby's wellbeing
- Thoughts you can't seem to quiet
- Physical sensations of anxiety
- Difficulty relaxing even when everything is okay
- Needing to check on things repeatedly
Unwanted Thoughts
- Thoughts that don't match who you are
- Images that pop up uninvited
- Fear about thoughts you're having
- Avoiding situations because of your thoughts
- Shame about what's in your mind
Daily Life Changes
- Sleep difficulties beyond normal newborn schedules
- Appetite changes
- Difficulty caring for yourself
- Pulling away from people who matter to you
- Feeling like you're just going through motions
If any of this resonates, you don't have to wait until things feel harder. Support is available now.
Get Support NowWhat You're Feeling Has a Name, and It's Treatable
Many new parents experience a period of adjustment after birth. Mood shifts, tears, and feeling overwhelmed in the first couple weeks are a normal response to the massive changes happening in your body and life. This typically passes on its own with rest and support.
For some parents, the emotional challenges persist longer or feel more intense. You might notice that weeks have passed and you're still not feeling like yourself. Or that your anxiety goes beyond typical new-parent worry into something that's affecting your daily life. Or that thoughts keep intruding that you can't shake.
The good news: these experiences have names, they're well-understood, and they respond beautifully to treatment. Postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, and other perinatal mood experiences are not character flaws or signs of bad parenting. They're treatable conditions, and most parents who receive support recover fully.
You don't need to diagnose yourself or figure out exactly what's happening. That's what our first conversation is for. If something feels off, that's enough reason to reach out.
What Perinatal Counseling Addresses
Therapy during pregnancy and postpartum is different from general therapy. We focus on your specific experience and the unique aspects of this life transition. Sessions are tailored to what you're going through right now.
Processing Your Emotions
Working through grief, anxiety, anger, guilt, or numbness without judgment. Understanding why you feel the way you do and finding compassion for yourself in this experience.
Managing Difficult Thoughts
Learning that scary or unwanted thoughts don't define you. Developing strategies to reduce their frequency and power so they don't control your day.
Building Your Connection
If you're finding your way to connection with your baby, therapy can help you build that relationship at your own pace, without pressure or shame.
Honoring Your Identity Shift
The transition to parenthood changes who you are. Like any major life change, it can be disorienting. Therapy helps you integrate who you were with who you're becoming.
Protecting Your Relationships
New parenthood can strain partnerships. We can work on communication with your partner or process relationship changes that come with this transition.
Developing Coping Skills
Building practical tools for managing anxiety, regulating emotions, and taking care of yourself while caring for a baby. Skills you can use right away.
Who Seeks Perinatal Counseling?
Parents come at every stage of pregnancy and parenthood:
Pregnant and anxious wanting support to find more peace during pregnancy
Pregnant after infertility processing complex emotions after finally getting pregnant
Pregnant after loss holding grief and hope together in this pregnancy
Newly postpartum adjusting to parenthood and wanting support through it
Experiencing mood changes noticing emotions affecting daily life and relationships
Navigating difficult thoughts wanting tools to manage intrusive or scary thoughts
Processing birth experience working through a delivery that didn't go as planned
Months or years postpartum realizing now is the right time to get support
There's no wrong time to reach out. Support is available whenever you're ready.
Schedule a ConsultationHow Perinatal Therapy Works at Dancing Bee Counseling
Therapy is tailored to your specific needs and where you are in your journey.
Evidence-Based Techniques
I use approaches that research shows are effective for perinatal mental health, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for managing anxious thoughts, mindfulness for staying grounded, and acceptance-based strategies for riding emotional waves. We find what works for you.
Practical Tools You Can Use Now
Therapy isn't just about talking. You'll leave sessions with specific techniques you can use right away, whether that's calming your nervous system when anxiety spikes, responding to intrusive thoughts, or finding small moments of connection with your baby.
Flexible to Your Life
I understand the realities of pregnancy and new parenthood. Babies cry during sessions. You might need to feed or soothe. Telehealth makes it possible to attend from home in whatever state you're in. Flexibility is built into how we work together.
A Non-Judgmental Space
Whatever you're feeling, whatever thoughts you're having, you can share them here. I've supported many parents through similar experiences and I won't be shocked or think less of you. My role is to help, not to judge.
Your Pregnancy or Postpartum Followed a Difficult Path?
Many people seeking perinatal support are also processing fertility or loss experiences. Dancing Bee Counseling provides integrated care that honors your full story.
IVF
Processing the emotional aspects of IVF while pregnant or postpartum.
Pregnancy Loss
Grief from previous losses present in your current experience.
Pregnancy After Loss
Holding grief and hope together in this pregnancy.
Relationship Support
New parenthood affecting your relationship after fertility struggles.
Why See a Perinatal Mental Health Specialist?
General therapists may not have experience with the unique challenges of pregnancy and postpartum mental health.
Understanding Perinatal Experiences
I know how pregnancy and postpartum emotional experiences differ from general anxiety or depression. You won't have to explain why this time is different or convince me that what you're feeling is real. I understand the unique context.
Knowing What's Normal and What Needs Support
Perinatal mental health has its own patterns. I understand what typically emerges when, how recovery generally unfolds, and when additional resources might be helpful. This context shapes how we work together.
Comfortable with All Your Experiences
Intrusive thoughts, difficulty connecting with your baby, rage you've never felt before. None of these will shock me. I've supported many parents through similar experiences and I understand that these don't make you a bad person or parent.
Specialized Training
My training includes specialized preparation for perinatal mental health. This means approaches specifically designed for pregnancy and postpartum, not general therapy adapted after the fact.
Questions About Perinatal Counseling
How do I know if I need perinatal counseling or if this is just normal adjustment?
This is one of the most common questions parents have. The truth is, there's no bright line between "normal" adjustment and something that would benefit from support. A good way to think about it: if your emotional experience is making it hard to function, affecting your relationships, or causing you significant distress, support can help. You don't need to reach a certain threshold of difficulty to deserve help. Many parents find that even a few sessions provide tools that make the transition to parenthood smoother. If you're wondering whether counseling would help, that question itself is worth exploring in a consultation.
I'm having scary thoughts about my baby. Does that mean something is wrong with me?
Unwanted, scary thoughts about your baby are far more common than most people realize. Having these thoughts doesn't mean you want to act on them or that you're a danger to your child. In fact, the distress you feel about these thoughts shows that they go against your values and who you are. Many new parents experience intrusive thoughts and never tell anyone because of shame. Therapy can help you understand why these thoughts happen, reduce their frequency, and take away their power. The most important thing to know: having scary thoughts doesn't make you a bad parent, and they don't have to control your experience of parenthood.
Can therapy really help, or do I just need to wait this out?
Perinatal mood and anxiety experiences respond very well to therapy. With proper support, most parents see real improvement and go on to fully enjoy parenthood. Waiting without support is an option, but it means continuing to struggle through a time that could feel different. Therapy provides tools you can use immediately, a space to process what you're experiencing, and support that can shorten the duration of your difficult feelings. You don't have to white-knuckle your way through this. And getting help now can prevent things from getting harder before they get better.
Is it too late to get help? My baby is already several months old.
It's never too late to get support. Perinatal mental health challenges can emerge anytime in the first year and beyond, and some parents don't recognize what's happening until well after birth. There's also no expiration date on when support can help. Whether your baby is two weeks old or two years old, if you're still carrying the weight of a difficult perinatal experience, therapy can help you process it and move forward. Many parents seek support months or even years later when they finally have the space to address what they went through.
Can I bring my baby to sessions?
Yes. I understand that finding childcare for a newborn is often impossible, and separation anxiety (yours or baby's) is real. Babies are welcome in sessions, whether in-person or telehealth. We'll work around feedings, diaper changes, and fussiness. For telehealth sessions, you can attend from wherever works best, whether that's nursing in bed, bouncing baby in a carrier, or sitting on the floor during tummy time. The most important thing is that you're able to access support, and I'm flexible about what that looks like.
Pregnancy & Postpartum Counseling in Madison, Wisconsin
Dancing Bee Counseling provides specialized perinatal mental health therapy from our Waunakee office. Telehealth sessions are available throughout Wisconsin, which is especially helpful for new parents who can't easily leave home.
Dancing Bee Counseling
Serving New Parents Throughout:
Telehealth is ideal for postpartum parents who can't easily leave home with a newborn.
Abby Lemke, MS, LPC-IT
Perinatal Mental Health Specialist
I founded Dancing Bee Counseling because I saw a gap in support for people navigating the emotional complexities of family building. That includes the path to pregnancy, and it also includes what happens after you get there.
Many of my clients have worked hard to become parents through infertility or loss, only to find that pregnancy and postpartum bring their own unexpected challenges. Others had uncomplicated paths to pregnancy but are surprised by their emotional experience. All deserve specialized support from someone who understands perinatal mental health.
My approach combines evidence-based techniques with genuine compassion. I won't tell you to "enjoy every moment" or dismiss what you're feeling. I'll help you develop real skills for navigating this transition while honoring how hard it can be.
You Deserve Support Through This
Whatever you're experiencing during pregnancy or postpartum, you don't have to navigate it alone. A consultation is simply a conversation about what you're going through and how support might help.
In-person in Waunakee | Telehealth throughout Wisconsin