Mother’s Day Rally
I am so excited about what is coming up on Mother’s Day on Katherine Stone’s Postpartum Progress! New moms, listen up! This will be encouraging, inspiring, educational and worthwhile! On Mother’s Day, Katherine is hosting the Mother’s Day Rally for Moms’ Mental Health where every hour on the hour for twenty-four hours, a letter by a different author will be posted – letters written to you - the new mom!
The authors come from all walks of life in the postpartum mood disorder world – survivors, experts, advocates, and all of the above. We will write to share what we will on maternal mental health during pregnancy and postpartum. I am super-excited to be a part of this amazing group of ladies who get to share their thoughts with you and I cannot wait to read what the others are writing as well.
From a personal perspective, I remember my first mother’s day being extremely bittersweet. Probably more bitter than sweet as well. I had looked forward to that day for a few years, I couldn’t wait to celebrate finally being a mom! That day came and I was bitter. I hated that I was sick, hated that I needed help to do basic things, hated that I couldn’t function like a “normal” mom. It was sweet because, well, I was a mom. I was, thankfully, getting to a point where I was starting to feel slowly better and I was loving my baby.
It was also a very bitter day, that first Mother’s Day, because I encountered very direct rudeness about the ignorance of postpartum depression on Mother’s Day. I know I have mentioned this before, but in case you did not know, I was buying (then) Brooke Shields’ new book “Down Came the Rain” and the cashier commented that she didn’t understand how anyone could be depressed after having a baby.
It felt like a slap in the face. With a red, hot hand.
Talk about bitter.
Those memories still burn in my mind and I constantly work to create new ones and let those go. The reason I tell you this is that because if this is your first Mother’s Day, you will have encouragement on the hour, every hour at Postpartum Progress. Check in there and read again a new letter directed right to you. You will see first-hand how many people care, how many people have been there, how many people know what you are going through, how many people know that this is real…I could go on and on.
So mark your calendars. And head to Postpartum Progress. You won’t regret it!