1 in every 1000

"...Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar..."
Romans 3:4 English Standard Version

Nina Domingue as "Thelisa" in the Drano scene from "Ya Mama!"

The one thing that was of utmost importance to me when I started writing this play was telling the truth. About my life, the choices I've made, the effects they have had on myself and others. The truth, nothing but the truth, so help me God.

Seriously.

I feel it is my reasonable service. God saw fit to keep me here, against all the odds, so I feel obligated to tell the truth about it.

And Truth means a lot of things. But what did telling the truth mean to the other people in my life? After all, even though it is my story, other people are a part of it and well, telling the truth also meant exposing some business that didn't belong solely to me.

And people seem to be terrified of exposure. Like the sky is going to fall if people know something about them. But people always know. They find out eventually. They may not understand what they know; I think that is truly what frightens people. Being misunderstood. And, "what would people think?" And what am I going to have to deal with because of what they think...well...

Mostly my parents, my father and my stepmother. My biological mother is deceased. My sister, who would most likely act as mediator, or not, my children, my husband. My dad's side of the family, my mom's side of the family...(insert torrent of thoughts that could cause one to hyperventilate here). Ultimately, I decided that it didn't matter and I didn't care. I had to tell the story for many reasons. I'll explore many of them in the blog. But I'll start here:

1 in every 1000 women suffer from postpartum psychosis. It is the disease that is most often misdiagnosed as postpartum depression. 85% of cases end in suicide or infanticide if left untreated. The disease gets worse with each pregnancy.

And it is the disease my mother died from. No one wants to talk about it. But I do.

That's the truth.