Now healthy and stable, Cho's memoir recounts her terrifying struggles with mental illness and pulls from journals that she and her husband kept. Both her experience with mental illness and writing the book have taught her an important lesson: she needs to prioritize her health.
"One thing that I have definitely learned from the experience is we were so focused on taking care of Cato and making sure he was fine, that it didn't really occur to me, that actually I should be taking care of myself as well," she says.
Cato, now 2½, is doing well after his mother's frightening health journey.
"Coming out, I was like, 'Oh gosh, it must have been really traumatic for him to have suddenly gone from breastfeeding all the time to just transition to the bottle.' I was with him all the time before we were separated," Cho explains. "In the recovery period afterward, I was a very distant figure. I couldn't touch him for more than a minute or two."
But, since her recovery, Cho has connected with her son.
"I feel lucky now that we have a really strong relationship," she says. "I definitely worked very hard to get to that point. So it's a relationship that I had to build, rather than rediscover."
Now "100 percent back to herself," as Choi puts it, Cho is pregnant with a daughter due in November. While they're excited to welcome their new baby, the couple is also ready for postpartum psychosis if it happens again.
"We’ll do what we can to prevent it," says Choi, "but we’re prepared."
If you or someone you know need mental health help, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
- With reporting by SANDRA SOBIERAJ WESTFALL
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