A bit about me.

I am the youngest of six children.

I am the mom of Mathias who is 3 and a half and Emma who is 2 and married to Richard, my rock and huge support throughout this journey. I have lived in Brazil, Belgium, and currently live in Miami, since 2008.

I am fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. In the working world, I started a PR agency in 2011, and before that held public relations and human resources positions in both corporate and agency environments. I have also worked for FIBA, Florida International Bankers Association as their Member Manager. In 2006, I obtained my Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics with a minor in Human Resource Management from Vesalius College in association with Boston University in Brussels, Belgium. I got certified as a yoga instructor in 2017 and have been most recently teaching kids yoga & wellness. In my free time, I enjoy reading, playing tennis, practicing yoga, writing, and learning. I love traveling, the beach, nature, and country music.

I was raised by a few moms. My brother Santi is the oldest. My sister Male is the oldest of the girls. Then comes Sol, the lawyer. Then Paca, who I will talk about a lot as she was my main line of support from the family. Then Maria who I grew up the closest to in age and doing things together, especially during our chapter in Belgium. My mom is a fiery Cuban. She doesn’t hold back on speaking her mind. Often I can take it as judgment or comparison but I know deep down she shares it for my benefit. As most moms do. Often her comments hurt or annoy me although lately I finally understand her better. It’s only taken a few decades. My dad is Argentine. A very rational, practical, and quite amazing dad. He was always involved in our school through the board. A very successful agribusiness echecutiv as he says with his argentine accent. He often reminds me I should work. His latest comment is that I don’t live in India and in the US women work and we need both salaries. Yes Dad, thanks for the reminder and the additional guilt. I grew up very close to my Cuban side as I saw them most often but I love my whole mix. I was closest to my Abuela Mercedes and my Tia Abuela Eva and Tio Abuelo Miguelito. I moved to Miami in large part to be closer to them. And also because I needed to be closer to my Cuban side. And to my Tio Pepe. Who then moved to Rome a few years after I moved here.

I am still focused on healing my postpartum depression. Follow me on instagram for more daily updates @myppdstory

Why I’m writing this?

It’s normal. It will pass. I had it too. You will sleep better. Just truck through it. These were all phrases I kept hearing again and again and the reason I took so long to look for professional help and ended up hospitalized after suffering for about 8 months. At the 8 month visit the pediatrician told me Emma was not gaining ‘enough’ weight and recommended we immediately start supplementing. It made me feel like a horrible mom for not realizing anything. 

The expectation of what being a mom of 2 under 2 versus the reality had hit me hard and I wasn’t sure if all the symptoms I was feeling were in fact normal. It took horrible thoughts and a few desperate calls to the insurance providers to decide we should drive to the emergency room. 

In May 2021, I was diagnosed with postpartum depression which wasn’t treated in time and developed into postpartum psychosis. It is now September 2022, and I continue to experience down episodes which last anywhere from 9-15 days. I recently changed medications and am seeing a Functional Medecine doctor. I decided to share my story in the hopes it can help other women experiencing it and even sometimes selfishly I hope to find a solution for my case through this platform.