What I Didn’t Know About PPD

I thought I knew what to look for. I thought I’d educated my family–anyone who would be close to me after I had the baby–about PPD signs. I knew my history of depression and anxiety. I knew postpartum depression had been in my family through a few...

Feeling “Normal” Again After PPD

Someone asked me recently whether I feel “normal” again, years after my experience with PPD and postpartum anxiety (PPA). After a pause while I considered what normal actually means (anyone know?), I responded with a brief description of my year (roughly,...

PPD and the Abrupt End of Breastfeeding

This is the story of the night I stopped breastfeeding my oldest son and what PPD had to do with it. I haven’t really shared this whole story before. Not in its entirety, anyway. And not because it’s a hard story or particularly shameful, but rather...

On Finally Being the Rock

Life takes us sometimes, grabs us tightly around the waist, turns us upside down, and shakes us until we are mere shadows of what we once were. Then, just as abruptly, it sets us back in an upright and locked position, only without everything solidly locked back into...