Breath of Life Blog
Moving Forward from Postpartum Depression
With the first round of our Postpartum Mood Disorder Moms group coming to a close, we’ve learned about Postpartum Depression and Anxiety and given a name to the intense feelings and thoughts often battled as a part of it. We’ve learned to identify those negative...
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Let’s Talk About Sex (After), Baby!
Wow! The topic this month at our normalizing postpartum mom’s group is “Sex after Baby.” Nothing like getting real personal with each other! I’m so thankful for a safe place to discuss these very real parts of life after having a baby. And I am no stranger to that...
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From Her Womb to Her Arms
Alyssa Botta’s Birth Story It was the moment that I had been anticipating for days, weeks, and--let’s be honest--months. I was six days past my due date and minutes had started feeling like weeks to me. Now it was finally time. I was about to meet my baby girl. A...
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Finding Freedom from Postpartum Mood Disorders: The Crucial Factor of Support
Our Postpartum Depression and Anxiety support group has been running for 4 months now and it has been incredible to see these mothers come together and bond over shared thoughts, feelings, and fears. It has also been interesting to see that many of the women attending...
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Self-Care: How to Fill Your Emotional Cup
Picture a cup, overflowing with water. Plentiful, satisfying, filled to the brim. But you take that cup, pick it up, and pour some of the water into a smaller cup. You pick it up again and pour some into a medium sized cup. You pick it up and pour a good portion into...
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Sleep, You and Your Baby – Let’s All Get Along
To sleep or not to sleep? That is the question... Ah, who am I kidding? If THAT is the “question”, then I think we (mothers) can collectively agree that the answer, is YES. As in, “yes” we would like to sleep, but we are, in fact, not getting as much as we’d like....
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Your Thoughts on Postpartum: What-Ifs, Shoulds, and Absolutes, Oh My!
The building blocks of anxiety, depression, low self-worth, guilt, and shame are made up of the lies we tell ourselves. Some may call these lies “Cognitive Distortions," others call them “automatic negative thoughts," but whatever name you choose to give them, they...
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Balancing Life After Baby
Balance, by definition is, “an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady” or can also be defined as “a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.” Balancing life has been something I’ve...
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5 Ways to Give Yourself Grace to Fight Postpartum Depression
Grace. It’s one of my favorite words. Just speaking the word out loud is like a sweet sigh of relief. Grace. Grace to be imperfect. Grace to be human. Grace to acknowledge your strengths. Grace to acknowledge your weaknesses. It is a beautiful concept, yet so...
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Feeding Your Baby: It’s ALL Good
So you’ve had your baby... Congratulations! Now all you have to do is keep it fed, happy and alive. EASY PEASY. HA! #SAIDNOMOMEVER Feeding your baby may “seem” like such an easy and straightforward thing to do--until suddenly it’s just not. THAT is the topic we will...
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Normalizing and Removing the Shame of Postpartum Depression
“We had to give her formula since you aren’t producing milk and the baby is underweight.” “Wait, what? Um, okay. I guess that’s fine.” Less than 24 hours after birthing a beautiful baby girl, this mama is already experiencing it…Mom guilt. A common assailant that...
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Dads and Postpartum Depression
When we hear people talk about postpartum depression, it's usually associated with new mothers. But did you know that as many as 2,700 new fathers are diagnosed every day with Paternal Postnatal Depression (PPND)? That's up to 1 in 4 new dads who are having trouble...
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