She's A Geeky Mom, With PPD

With my husband out of town, getting three kids out of the house to school in the morning was hard. Making three lunches, breakfast, dealing with random demands such as "I am not getting dressed unless I have my soccer shirt" and "these socks don't feel good so I need new socks"almost put me over the edge. And I had to fit in my own shower. But I forged ahead, determined to make it to the She's Geeky conference yesterday.

I finally made it to the conference somewhat dazzed from my morning and read the list of sessions that were being held at my arrival time. And what do you know, I found a session for moms in the technology field. So I sat down at the table and introduced myself. I did not expect to hear such compelling stories from the other moms.

All the women at the table had successful technology careers before they had kids. But all faced big challenges getting back into the workforce after they had kids. Some had demanding work situations that made the transition back to work very hard. Some had issues trying to find daycare and children that suffered from separation anxiety. I shared that my job as a technical project manager had time demands that did not sync with raising three kids, so I had to re-define my career. All of us were determined to move ahead with careers in technology while providing supportive environments to raise our kids.

What was most compelling was that 2 out of the 6 moms said they suffered from some sort of Postpartum Depression (PPD) and did not know it until they found help, which was a long process. This made me wonder how working moms in technology with PPD can find the right support systems.

I would like to add my support for Blog Day for Mother's Act and the bill that would address PPD by:

• Providing important education and screening on postpartum depression (PPD) that can lead to early identification and treatment. The legislation includes two grants to help healthcare providers educate, identify and treat PPD.
• Expanding important research to improve and discover new treatments, diagnostic tools and educational materials for providers. Since the exact cause of PPD isn't known, research continues to be the key to unlocking the mystery of this condition.

This is an important step to help moms that suffer from PPD, and to give the amazing moms in technology the support they need to get back to work, where their contributions are too vital to be missed. Check out this post from BlogHer and this post from Glennia for instructions on how to get involved.