Maternal mental health is something we don't talk about enough — and I say that as someone who has lived it from the inside. I've experienced pregnancy loss through TFMR (termination for medical reasons), navigated the darkness of postpartum depression, and found my way through anxiety that I didn't have words for at the time. These experiences are more common than most people realize, and yet so many women still feel like they're going through them alone.

If you're in the middle of a pregnancy loss, recovering from TFMR, or struggling with postpartum depression or postpartum anxiety, I want you to know: your feelings are valid, your grief is real, and healing — while not linear — is possible. Maternal mental health isn't just about surviving the hard moments. It's about slowly, imperfectly, learning to carry them.

For a growing number of older adults, this stage of life also carries an unexpected and deeply painful situation: estrangement from their adult children. This has become an increasingly hot topic as social media posts seem to encourage cutting off family members as a first step toward self-care rather than a last resort after much work and many conversations. These posts often ignore the far-reaching and devastating consequences of estrangement for everyone involved.

For many people, the idea of becoming a parent is woven quietly into the fabric of life. It starts young as you maybe played house or your parents told you “I can’t wait until you have kids of your own” when frustrated. Or maybe you imagined the number of children you would have. Maybe you had a name picked out that you hadn’t even shared with anyone yet. Maybe you pictured family vacations, or simply the feeling of holding your baby for the first time.

There is often an unspoken assumption that this part of life will unfold naturally; that when you’re ready, it will happen. In fact, many of us spend years preventing the timing from being “wrong.”

Then, when infertility enters the picture, the assumption shatters.

Lori Allen’s personal story of postpartum depression & anxiety.