Maternal Wellness Center

09/22/2025

It’s not really about how it feels, this is how it IS. We can do better for moms.

09/20/2025

STAT. .e.bowman.poetry

09/17/2025

09/15/2025

Good news? The Harvard study of adult development gave us this trajectory of lifespan happiness. You’re likely in the hardest years of your life — but it gets better!

09/13/2025

We often say that each child should come with their own parenting book because no two experiences will be the same. The same is true of grieving the loss of a pregnancy or child—the journey will be unique. As we approach Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day on October 15th, we at the Center have been remembering all the families whose grief journeys we have been privileged to witness.

When someone first loses a pregnancy or child, they are thrust onto a new path that no one expects to travel. Grieving can feel like wandering the woods without a map. There are parenting books, articles, and classes that prepare us for birth and child-rearing, but so little exists to help someone understand life after losing an infant or pregnancy. As for all parents, it can be helpful to see that we are not alone and to learn from those who have walked this road before us (or for friends and family to learn a bit of what we’re experiencing). In that spirit, we are sharing some of the common threads we’ve pulled from working alongside families through loss.

Like all grief except when it isn’t
Grief is an inescapable and natural part of the human experience. Anyone who loves will grieve. With all loss, it is normal to have many emotions that ebb, flow, co-exist and overwhelm at different times. Grief winds and meanders—sometimes close and sometimes far. There’s no linear path forward, and it is natural for it to look and feel different from hour to hour or day to day.

But losing a pregnancy or an infant is not the same as losing a loved one after a long and full life. When loss violates the normal order of life, parents grieve a future of possibility. Instead of a lifetime of memories to cherish, parents have hopes, dreams, and plans that didn’t get to grow. They mourn the future that never was and all the facets of their child that they didn’t get to know. Understandably, a loss so unexpected can be traumatic and leave parents grappling with fear and anxiety in addition to their losses.

Read full blog:: https://www.maternalwellness.org/blog/2022/10/5/what-to-expect-when-youre-no-longer-expecting

09/10/2025

You don’t need any other reasons, boo. Have the best possible life! ✨

09/10/2025

Say it. Scream it. For the people at the top. ._

09/08/2025

Forever this one — for grieving parents. ❤️‍🩹 .e_cummings

09/07/2025

She is a force to be reckoned with.

09/06/2025

We all could use a little boredom these days, but not from you! 🫶

09/05/2025

September Blog: 🍂

’s take a moment to appreciate the hormonal hat trick that is womanhood: puberty, pregnancy, and perimenopause. Throughout women’s lives, these major hormonal shifts are changing us physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Turns out, these three milestones are like sisters from the same hormonal family. Each one kicks off a massive reorganization of the brain and rewires everything from memory and focus to how we process emotions. Being hormonal is more than a little moodiness; it’s a full brain renovation. We are nothing if not stunningly dynamic beings.

Our brains are always adapting to our needs. Our neural pathways are always evolving to strengthen the connections we use and weaken those we no longer need. However, the massive hormonal shifts across women’s lifespans are responsible for some seismic shifts that are rarely discussed.

If we look at the experiences of puberty, pregnancy, and postpartum, the similarities are striking because the mechanism is the same: massive hormone change. All three phases come with changes in mood, sleep, libido, memory, and our brain function.

It’s strange that the first two shifts are often met with a celebration of a new life stage (milestone birthday parties, bat mitzvah’s, quinceañeras, baby showers, and more) while we treat menopause like a death instead of rebirth.

Let’s not sugar-coat things. Like puberty and pregnancy, perimenopause can feel like you’re riding an emotional tilt-a-whirl. Anxiety, brain fog, low mood, irritability aren’t “just in your head” (well, they are, technically, but they’re also neurobiological).

Estrogen plays a starring role here, acting like an expert regulator of brain function. As it starts to fluctuate and decline, so does its calming, mood-lifting magic. That’s why a forgotten word or a sudden wave of overwhelm isn’t just “a bad day;” it’s a biochemical event.

keep reading:: https://www.maternalwellness.org/blog/hormonalhattrick