Originally posted September 3, 2013.
Because these women and their stories are so extraordinary, for me personally, this is the most meaningful article I ever researched and wrote up.
As I worked, I was literally choked up with feeling, emotion, pride and wonder at ALL of their accomplishments!
If you are experiencing depression or anxiety during the perinatal period of your life, the blogs listed here are rich with support, information, available resources and kindness!
The bloggers listed here are powerful advocates for your support and change. Their professional credentials and accomplishments are impressive and cover a wide range of topics.
Listed in no particular order, are my favorite postpartum depression peeps and their blogs!
Amber Koter-Puline is a part-time working mom and mental health advocate based in Georgia and is the founder of the positive, mom-supporting Facebook group, End the Mommy Wars. Her first advocacy work was in the postpartum depression world, writing the blog, Beyond Postpartum, now a resource blog. In her first childbirth experience in 2007, she experienced a traumatic birth and postpartum depression and anxiety. Watch her story about the sad power of postpartum depression and anxiety here on video. She went on to have a positive childbirth and postpartum experience with her second son in 2011. Amber founded the vibrant Atlanta Moms Postpartum Support Group. Find Amber at End the Mommy Wars, Atlanta Mom, Beyond Postpartum, and the Atlanta Postpartum Support Group. Connect with her on Twitter: @BeyondPPD @AtlantaMom
Ivy Shih Leung is a New York City professional woman and a postpartum depression survivor. Her blog is called Ivy’s PPD Blog. After the birth of her daughter in December 2004, she suffered from postpartum depression about 6 weeks later. Fortunately, with the help of Paxil, which she started taking in February 2005, her frightening experience came to an end 4 weeks later. Tom Cruise’s infamous rant, “There’s no such thing as a chemical imbalance” triggered an intense reaction within her and an overwhelming desire to tell him, and others like him, to “Shut up unless you’ve been through PPD yourself.” She took that energy and wrote her book called “One Mom’s Journey to Motherhood: Infertility, Childbirth Complications, and Postpartum Depression, Oh My!”Her bookis available for sale on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Please visit her Facebook author page for more information on her book. Organizations can purchase her book in large quantities by contacting her. Take a look at this press release and a touching book review written by Kathy Morelli, a Licensed Professional Counselor and Director of BirthTouch, LLC®.
Connect with her on Twitter:@IvyShihLeung
Robin Farr is a mom and marketing professional based in Canada and is the author of Farewell Stranger. She says she used to be a fairly competent person, then she had a baby! She jokes her competence was removed along with the c-section! She’s ….a woman, a writer, a wife, a runner, a communications professional, a speaker and a mom. She suffered from undiagnosed postpartumdepression after my first son was born in 2008. But she persevered, using writing as a way to find her way back to herself again. Through blogging, Robin says she found a community, friends, a philosophical perspective and her pathway to being a mom. Robin is quite accomplished in the blogging and mental health world. She writes regularly for Huffington Post and Postpartum Progress and has been featured on many other blogs. She has spoken at TEDX and other venues about motherhood and mental health.
Connect with her on Twitter: @FarewellStranger
Yuz Rozenblum is a mom and marketing professional based in Australia and is the author of Not Just About Wee She is amazing and tireless, helping support women on Facebook in such groups as the #PPDCHAT page and the Having a Second Child After PMAD group. She is very active in support groups because, she says: “I will never be the same person I was prior to my postnatal/postpartum mood disorder (PMD) nearly four years ago.” Yuz has experienced a severe postpartum mental health crisis which necessitated recovery in an Mom-Baby psychiatric unit. You can read more about her personal journey here
Connect with her on Twitter: @notjustaboutwee
Jennifer Antonik is the author of Momma Trauma.
Jennifer is based in Delaware, where she is active in birth, midwifery and violence against women issues. She became interested in birth trauma and perinatal violence after her own traumatic childbirth experience. She is an advocate for changing the current atmosphere of coercion in birth to respectful treatment of women during childbirth. And she is an advocate for respecting women for in all choices of safe birthing and parenting practices. As far as your birth and parenting choices, “Don’t let anyone talk you out of it…and beyond that, don’t let anyone talk you into it either!…do your research, formulate your opinion and do what feels right for you!” is her mantra!
Connect with her on Twitter: @MommaTraumaBlog
Cristi Motto Comes is based in Washington state and is the author of Motherhood Unadorned. Cristi is a powerhouse. She is a tireless advocate for Suicide Prevention and for ending the stigma against persons who have a mental illness. Here is a post from her about Suicide Prevention Resources. Cristi, in her own words, has managed her mental illness for many years. However, her condition became more acute after childbirth. Read her story here. She is a passionate advocate and a supporter for all persons for change in how we view mental illness.
Connect with her on Twitter: @MotherUnadorned
Jaime is based in New Jersey and is a professional woman and the author of James and Jax. She suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after a traumatic birth and accompanying postpartum depression. She discusses the general risk factors for postpartum depression and shares specifically what those risk factors can look like, with her personal experience here. Jaime says being a first-time mom, making her way through extended breastfeeding, co-sleeping, attachment parenting, PPD, plus a full-time job, and working through identity transition in motherhood totally rocked her world.
Connect with her on Twitter: @jamesandjax
Andrea Bates is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, mom and postpartum depression advocate/volunteer based in North Carolina. She is the author of Good Girl Gone Redneck. She reviews books, writes about motherhood and is a tireless advocate of helping out moms postpartum. She is active in the Band Back Together online community and also active locally in her community as an IRL volunteer!
Connect with her on Twitter: @goodgirlgonered
Jennifer Pody Gaskell is the author of Tranquil Mama and is now recovering from postpartum depression and anxiety after the birth of her youngest daughter. She is an advocate for more education about perinatal mood disorders for healthcare providers. With a family history of diabetes, she developed gestational diabetes in her second pregnancy. She found it exhausting to learn how to daily monitor her blood glucose levels and “everything that went into her mouth.” Read more about her gestational diabetes story here. She suffered from undiagnosed antenatal anxiety and had a hard time emotionally and physically in her pregnancy. After she was diagnosed with postpartum anxiety, she found that gestational diabetes is a risk factor for perinatal mood disorders. Read more about her dismay that her mental health was not part of routine careby a very caring healthcare team.
Connect with her on Twitter: @jenrenpody
Esther Dale is based in California. She’s a mom of three, a military wife, nursing student, the author of Journey Through PPD and has chosen to help another mom build her family by being a Gestational Surrogate. She suffered a severe postpartum depression and was hospitalized twice. Her postpartum depression was caused by the pregnancy. Once she was stabilized on thyroid hormone replacement therapy, she hasn’t been depressed since. Esther is an advocate for education about perinatal mental illness as she hated the way she felt after childbirth and doesn’t think anyone else should feel this way!
Connect with her on Twitter: @CornMuffinsMama
And please, if I’ve left you out, please know it wasn’t intentional, I just interact with these gals online alot!
If you’d like to be included, just contact me, and let’s chat!
Love, Kathy