One month before I got pregnant with my son, I was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder. My husband and I had been trying to conceive since our miscarriage the year prior. But we were supposed to have paused the baby-making to focus on finding a fix for my brain.

When I told my therapist and my psychiatrist that I was pregnant, their faces fell. I would have to stop trying out medications and hope that the lowest possible dose of the safest possible antipsychotic would be enough to sustain my mental health through my pregnancy. While some pregnant people are able to stay on antidepressants, doctors said they were off-limits for me. In fact, Zoloft was what confirmed my suspected bipolar disorder when it launched me into “a mixed state”—simultaneous mania and depres…