New Center Set To Open For Mothers Suffering From Postpartum Depression

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mother suffering from postpartum depression will be receiving much-needed help thanks to one mother who hit rock bottom.

As CBS2's Cindy Hsu reported, The Motherhood Center of New York is set to open next month on the East Side. It was founded by Paige Bellenbaum, who feels extremely lucky that she can look at her son, Max, and daughter, Ella, with love.

When Bellenbaum was pregnant with Max, she felt anxious and kept thinking something was wrong -- and she did not feel the bonding she expected once he was born and was placed on her chest.

"I thought that I was going to have that magical unconditional loving moment with him," Bellenbaum said. "I didn't feel that at all. I actually just wanted someone to get him off me."

Her anxiety got much worse, and about three months later, she was outside with Max in a stroller.

"I saw out of the corner of my eye a bus coming towards us, and I watched it get closer, and every single inch of my body said, 'Throw us in front of the bus,'" Bellenbaum said.

Bellenbaum stopped herself, got in a cab and went directly to the Payne Whitney Women's Clinic at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she was diagnosed with severe postpartum depression.

Dr. Catherine Birndorf treated Bellenbaum, and within three to four weeks, she started feeling like herself.

"I always say to women in my office, I have never not seen someone get better. Everybody gets better," said Birndorf, a reproductive psychiatrist. "If you come for help, everybody gets better."

So Dr. Birndorf and Bellenbaum are about to open The Motherhood Center. They said it is the first of its kind in the country, where moms can be screened and treated for everything from anxiety to depression in a non-clinical setting.

It is designed to feel more like home.

"The infants will be here. If mom needs a break and she would like the baby to take a nap or would like someone to help change a diaper, we have a nursery director assistant that will be here," Birnbaum said.

Dr. Birndorf said about one in five women suffer from some sort of postpartum mood disorder -- which can start before a child is even born. She said nearly 80 percent of the cases go untreated.

The Motherhood Center is set to open next month on the 10th floor at 205 Lexington Ave.