Like most expectant moms who experience highs and lows throughout their pregnancy, Rachel* chalked up her bad moods to her physical state and looming life changes. Already the mother of a 6-month-old, during her second pregnancy, she found herself feeling increasingly overwhelmed and unhappy about becoming a mother again. Still, Rachel didn't believe her negative outlook would last long. "I never considered that I was depressed," she says. "I contributed it to hormones."

But Rachel's sadness didn't ease as she had hoped. Instead, it grew more serious and family members urged her to seek help. Like many women – more than the number of those who suffer from postpartum depression, according to a recent study – Rachel was experiencing depression during pregnancy.

While depression following the birth of a baby often makes headlines, depression during pregnancy isn't as well known. But according to a 2001 study of more than 9,000 mothers during and after pregnancy, symptoms were more common during pregnancy than after. Some evidence suggests that mood during pregnancy may affect the unborn child, according to the study published in the British Medical Journal. As a result, the studies' authors called for more emphasis to be put on understanding, detecting and treating depression during pregnancy.

Parenting and pregnancy expert Ann Douglas says dealing with life changes and a lot of physical discomforts at the same time contribute to depression during pregnancy.

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