Down Will Come Baby Column: Reader's Comments
I'm
a fan of Literary Mama and have enjoyed peeking at your column from time to time. You write articulately about what
many women experience, and I'm certain your ability to be candid is extremely helpful to them.
Ruta
M Nonacs, MD, PhD, Associate Director of the Perinatal Psychiatry Clinical Research
Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Author of "Deeper Shade of Blue: A Woman's Guide to Recognizing and Treating Depression in Her Childbearing Years" (Simon
and Schuster, 2006)
***
I am a psychologist and I work primarily with mothers of young children. One of my
patients who suffers from PPD brought your website and this column in particular to my attention. I now share it routinely
with patients and co-workers. I have had a very enthusiastic response also from a parents group at Rockefeller
University when I and another raised PPD and the contents. The author writes with accessible, moving insight that resonates
with all who have had the chance to read it.
Susanna L. Neumann, Ph. D.
New York, N.Y.
***
Loved your essay, "In The Company of Strangers." Where were you when my kids were younger?
I would have loved to have more women to open up to about the hard parts. I was just like you and would talk about the tough stuff, but often women shied
away from it. However, the few women I did connect with during
that time became good friends. We are out there! Thanks for being such an honest writer.
Melanie Bowden, post-partum doula, and author of "Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me? True Stories of New Motherhood"
***
Wow, I love Down Will Come Baby—it’s so amazingly, utterly
honest, just the other day I emailed the cite to a friend, a new mom who’s having a rough time and feeling very alone.
And I adore the column where you write about the moms who really talk about motherhood, and then of course they can’t
ever meet again, it’s just been too intimate. Wow, I love Down Will Come Baby—it’s so amazingly, utterly honest, just the
other day I emailed the cite to a friend, a new mom who’s having a rough time and feeling very alone. And I adore the
column where you write about the moms who really talk about motherhood, and then of course they can’t ever meet again,
it’s just been too intimate.
***
Thank you for being so raw, candid,
and HUMAN!
Julie
Russell, creator and publisher of Be Real Magazine
***
I wanted to tell you
I love reading your essays. I lead a new moms group here in town.
I told my last group about your column because I had several moms
with post-p depression and I thought they could really relate to what you had to share… Reading your column is always
a pleasure. We are not as isolated as we feel.
Gwen Meyer
***
Relax with a MOTHERS Coffee Break:
Why is it so hard to make mommy friends?
Read about one mother's struggles in "In the Company of Strangers" by Rebecca Kaminsky (Literary Mama,
March 3, 2005)
***
Your
essay was very touching and reminded me of so much of the loneliness I would feel. I would be talking about something important
and even the most brilliant of women (Prof of English at Cal) would be focused on her child and I never knew if it was me
or just she was preoccupied with her child..... Very painful. All the more reason when children are older to try to carve
out evening support without children. Playgroups are often very disappointing in terms of serious connection, or when we want
deeper discussion.
***
I am actually going to take one
of your articles to my councilor(sic) when I see her this week. I just truly feel that many women could benefit from
reading your articles. I too, suffered from PPD...It was a horrible, lonely place to be. My husband did not understand
it at all. I just wish there were groups
of women like you and I who could meet even once a month to discuss parenting, PPD, life! It's so nice to know that
"you" are not the only one feeling that way and that there is help out there. Keep up the great work.
Lori Ashbeck, reader of Down Will Come Baby
***
On Ms. Kaminsky's guest blog on
the Washington Post:
Lovely and brave. I've
always admired, both morally and creatively, those who write about it (depression) well.
