Within hours of giving birth, Kerri Hall's mood quickly turned from the elation of a new mom to the worry of a woman troubled by severe anxiety.

Hall was still in her room at Raleigh's Rex Hospital when the first pangs of nervousness and insomnia struck. Soon, she'd harbor obsessive thoughts she might hurt her newborn daughter. Within three months, Hall attempted suicide.

Hall suffered from one of the worst forms of postpartum depression, the condition that at least 10 percent to 15 percent of new moms experience, although experts say these estimates are likely too low.

These mothers suffer from a range of symptoms, though overwhelming anxiety and worry are hallmarks of the condition. Others include sadness, insomnia, fear of hurting their baby or themselves and the feeling of being completely overwhelmed.

Hall is getting better now. But her three-month journey searching for adequate treatment in the Triangle is, in part, why the UNC Center for Women's Mood Disorders is expanding its services to women with postpartum depression.

The mood disorders center will open a weekly outpatient clinic at Rex for women with postpartum depression as part of the UNC Health Care System.

And, on Nov. 3, a six-bed inpatient unit for women with the illness will open at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill. The rooms will come equipped with gliders for rocking babies and breast pumps for nursing mothers. There will be space for extended visits with their children, and therapy for the patient and her family.

Hall played a role in this. She ignored the stigma felt by some women with postpartum depression, writing letters to hospital officials that detailed her difficulties at Rex and UNC.

"I don't have the shame as much as other people do because I don't want anyone else to go through this," she said.

UNC's inpatient program will be modeled after similar programs in Britain. A couple of hospitals in the United States offer day programs for women with the illness. But UNC's unit, where women will stay overnight, likely is the only one of its kind in the U.S.

sarah.lindenfeld@newsobserver.com or 919-829-8983