I had so many risk factors for postpartum depression that it would have been a miracle if I hadn't gotten sick. The problem is that no one ever told me that. I was never screened for a maternal mental illness and I suffered because of it. Now I want to make sure that every medical professional screens every mom every time they can.

I have always struggled with gratitude. Or rather, I have always struggled with expressing gratitude in ways that others deemed appropriate. Ever since I was diagnosed with postpartum depression, anxiety and PTSD people have talked to me about gratitude a lot. As I study, practice and teach about self care the subject comes up even more. Just yesterday it came up again - this time in the form of a question: how do you look back on my experience with mental illness, what do you think about depression and gratitude?

You want to get out of the house. No, you need to get out of the house.

Maybe it's for a date night, quiet time alone, girls night out, or a family vacation. But every time you try to get out of the house for some self-care you wind up frustrated, stressed out, and pissed off! Why? Because you're the one doing all the work and dealing with all of the last-minute challenges and frustrations while everyone else simply shows up and has fun.

Yesterday's post on Self Care is doing really well. I'm getting emails, tweets, and messages from moms applauding my decision to take time off. A lot of them say that they wish they could do what I did. That makes me pause - mostly because it is something I would have said just a few weeks ago. The truth is that this was an emergency decision. This was not a break or a vacation, but a self-care intervention. Yes, I came home with energy and purpose, but there was a cost.

I firmly believe that self care can save your life. I've been called a self care guru, a self care coach, and I call myself a self care evangelist. So how did I stray so far from the path that I almost lost myself completely?

Whoever came up with the term baby friendly hospitals is very, very good at their job. It sounds good. Why wouldn't we want a hospital to be baby friendly? What could possibly go wrong?

As we have seen in the years since this initiative came to the US - many, many things could go wrong and most of them are to the detriment of the mother.