CrossFit: Annie Thorisdottir battles post-partum depression after birth of daughter
- The 31-year-old, who has won the CrossFit Games twice, says her mood dropped substantially after giving birth
- Icelandic native, who is gearing up for the semi-finals of the 2021 season, hopes speaking out will help others cope
“I never really believed in depression,” said Thorisdottir, who has qualified for the semi-finals of the 2021 CrossFit Games. “Well, it’s not that I didn’t believe in it. It’s just that it was so foreign to me. I just didn’t understand it.”
The Icelandic native, who won the Games in 2011 and 2012, detailed her struggles in a Morning Chalk Up post about giving birth. The 31-year-old wrote about how her mood began to slip, and she was confused as to why at first.
“I don’t think I have ever gone that far down in my life. It’s a feeling I didn’t even know I could feel. The only thing that made me happy was holding Freyja and being with her.
“I kept having flashbacks to my traumatic delivery. That made it worse, I think. My midwives told me a natural delivery would be best for the baby so that’s what we did. I kept pushing and pushing and pushing. I’m not sure why the doctors let me keep trying, and maybe they shouldn’t have, but nothing is going to change what happened.”