Important Updates

Here's an update on a few things you should know about:

• I've updated the PPD support group list, this time with a group at Mercy Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.  Thank you so much for keeping me updated on the support groups out there.  Last night I had to tell a woman who called me that I wasn't aware of any support groups in her area.  What a devastating thing to have to tell someone who is in the throes of a perinatal mood disorder ... Download ppd_support_groups.doc
• I've separated out the "People Who Care" listing on the right side of the page into National organizations and State & Local groups.  I did this because I know how important it is for people to feel they can find help and support in their own backyard, and I want to make it as easy as possible for them to find it.  The first groups I've listed in the State & Local section are Baby Blues Connection in Oregon, the Postpartum Resource Center of New York, the Postpartum Resource Center of Kansas, South Carolina's Ruth Rhoden Craven Foundation, and Mother to Mother in St. Louis.  For your information, I will list a group in that section only if it is non-profit, if it has a website available to all, and if most if not all of its services are free to those who need them (this might include brochures, seminars, a local hotline, support groups, etc).  As always, if you have a group you want me to list, email me at stonecallis@msn.com. 
• I have gotten several fabulous photos of happy moms for the new Surviving and Thriving photo album.  Thank you so much to those ladies who are proud to be displayed there.  I hope to get more pics, so please send me your snapshots!
• I am 36 weeks pregnant as of today.  I had been hoping to keep the stress level down as much as possible to help head off any postpartum mood disorder, but that all went to hell over the last two weeks.  First, last week my beloved cat disappeared and we've been unable to find him.  Then, I ended up in the hospital on Saturday with a kidney stone.  I had to have a stent put in my kidney on Tuesday.  I went into labor from all the stress and they had to give me some awful medicine to stop it, but it worked.  I'm now at home and basically on bed rest until I have my sweet little girl.  Soon after I have her I'll have to go back into the hospital to have the stones discovered in both my kidneys broken up so I can pass them.  I am still holding on to some modicum of calm and I'm hoping to stay that way.