Turn on the Lights

Somehow or another, this is the first time I’ve seen this video which was put together for Postpartum Support International.  It’s beautiful…  To see all these Dad’s and family members coax Mom’s out of the darkness of postpartum mood disorders.  I’m lucky that my own husband cared that much.

But the other thought I had as I watched this video was this:  I am *SO* glad for the opportunity to be a coordinator for military families with PSI.  Because so often, when a military spouse goes through postpartum depression, she goes through it alone.  So often it happens when the person who would normally be the primary source of support and help is thousands of miles away and in harms way.  The photos that are taken so often for military spouses in this position aren’t of Daddies doing the work and forging on while Mommy heals, but of Mommies marching on and trudging through and doing the best that they can with little help and less sleep.  They are one handed photos taken in self-portrait mode with forced half-hearted smiles…  Or photos taken of baby with an extra found piece of energy because you know your husband needs to see his little  baby.

And when you’re in that position, as I was because of a deployment and detachments,  you still desperately NEED someone to coax you out of the darkness.  You still NEED someone to care, and to say you’re not alone in this.  Sometimes you just NEED somebody to hold the baby because for so many days it’s been just you. 

I’m so glad that PSI is dedicated to ‘turning on the lights’ for women in this position, and so grateful to be a part of that.  And I hope that women facing postpartum depression while their spouses are deployed, or even with a spouse who *is* home, but facing a postpartum mood disorder along with the extra challenges the military throws at you… along with female service members with new babies who find themselves dealing with PPMDs in their own lonely situations know that THEY aren’t alone, even though our lifestyle can so easily make us feel that way.