* Morbidity and mortality in pregnancy
* Disparities in maternal health
* The content of prenatal careRegistration is $199 for the event. Find out more at
Let me give my 2 cents to the experts who will attend: Prenatal care of pregnant women is a big issue. So many of the women who experience postpartum mood disorders are blindsided by them because no one warned them properly when they were pregnant. This makes their suffering much, much worse, because they have no idea what’s wrong with them and they think they’re all alone. With all of the ob/gyn appointments and birthing classes and such, you would think someone along the line could provide clear and comprehensive information to us, but they don’t. I suppose it’s because they don’t want to upset already emotionally fragile pregnant women. I think it’s more important to be informed than to be overprotected. We’re women, for goodness sake! If we can handle birth, and if we can survive PPD, then we can survive a little up front honesty about postpartum mood disorders.
Katherine, I LOVE your comments. You have hit the nail on the head, and I would like your permission to quote you whenever appropriate. Keep on keepin' on! You're doing a great job!
So, let me get this straight. This conference is for only "professionals". That is great except sometimes when only looking from within the box a lot of common sense ideas are not seen. Where the general public is made up from the majority of medical consumers, especially women on becoming mothers, it would be great to open up certain conferences to gain insight from "outside the box". Many companies and organizations would gain wonderful ideas and solutions from doing so. Aside from that, more money would flow into those non-profit organizations that really need the money to continue support to women and their families. Just a thought!
One observation — Society's mindset on overprotection has caused more harm than good. They let women know about contraception til they are red in the face, but fail to offer help toward knowledge of potential at-risk problems during postpartum – until women are for real "blue in the face". Overprotecting women in certain facets of life is fine, but is not acceptable when it comes to providing education, recognition and awareness within any of the postpartum disorders! Postpartum fears are not diminished by not talking about a problem; fear is only lessened once information is disseminated and logged inside a women's memory bank.
Educating the mother-to-be is no different than when we put our money aside in a bank; when needed we go to the bank and draw out what we need for the day or week. In this case, if the memory bank has bits of information that can be called upon when needed – it is a storehouse filled with hope, faith and prevention.
A reminder that mood disorders come in all packages. While 1 in 5 women suffer from postpartum mood disorders, 1 in 10 suffer from perinatal depression. The word should be spread about a womsn's risk towards mental illness in all respects both during and after pregnancy. While there is little information spread about postpartum mood disorders there is even less information spread about perinatal mood disorders. All should be brought to the forefront.
Reminder: Just keep in mind that "perinatal", while covering the pregnant woman, is limited to only the first 28-30 days postpartum according to medical guidelines. The postpartum period covers anytime within the first year.