Sex After Postpartum Depression with Erin Bagwell

Erin Bagwell is a documentary filmmaker and maternal mental health advocate. In 2014 Erin raised over 100k on Kickstarter to fund and produce her first feature-length film Dream, Girl about women entrepreneurs. Dream, Girl premiered at Obama's White House and caught the eye of Oprah. Erin was one of Oprah's Super Soul 100. In 2018 Erin became a mother and started filming “Year One” a documentary that takes an intimate look at the everyday extraordinary moments of being a mom, while also healing from postpartum depression. Erin's story has been featured in Forbes, Ted, Vogue, and The Washington Post.

In this episode we delve into postpartum depression, what the warning signs are, and the importance of seeking support and asking for help. How to acknowledge what we are going through so we can move through and heal. We talk about how Erin’s identity changed going from a career woman to a mom, and how identity is a complicated piece of being a mother. We talk about whether our society prepares people enough to become parents, and how American mothers feel like they are completely underwater and exhausted, and discuss how hard it can be to be honest with friends and family when you feel that you are failing at motherhood.

We talk about sexual intimacy and how mothers are being touched out: how after holding a baby or having a baby sucking from your breasts how hard it can be to transition to the act of using the body for pleasure. We discuss the importance of giving ourselves Grace and chat about the lessons we learn from nature and the lessons Erin learns from her garden.

You can find Erin at @erinbagwell, and you can find her films Dream, Girl here and Year One here.

If you feel you may be experiencing Postpartum Depression or Suicidal Ideation, Erin has a list of resources here.

You can find Amy at @amymarcs.

You can find the show at @sexafterpodcast.

Sex After is produced by @thechrisderosa.

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