Today I speak with Suzanne Yatim Aslam, a former actor and Miss Arab USA turned writer. Her personal experience with postpartum depression and anxiety left her feeling alone and confused. In her book Post Pardon Me, she addresses the dark thoughts that so many mothers have but are too scared to say out loud. She's thrilled to get this book into the hands of mothers who may be struggling with postpartum depression and anxiety. This conversation with Suzanne is so real, but also hilarious. You don’t want to miss this episode! We talk about: -deciding to have kids or not -struggling with finding maternal instinct -going through the motions -dealing with mom guilt  -physical symptoms of depression -ancestral muscle memory -ways to cope -going to therapy Time Stamps 1:00 introduction 3:15 pregnancy expectations 5:05 life before kids 6:30 signs of depression 11:29 struggling with the bad days 16:05 warning signs of a bad day 18:03 cultural expectations 24:45 writing her book 28:30 being an advocate for yourself 31:40 finding help, trying therapy 38:30 learning about yourself through parenting 43:41 deciding to write her book 47:25 rapid fire questions CONNECT WITH CARRIE IG: https://www.instagram.com/carriepagliano/ Website: https://carriepagliano.com CONNECT WITH SUZANNE IG: https://www.instagram.com/suzyatimaslam/ Website: https://www.suzanneyatimaslam.com/ The Active Mom Postpartum Podcast is A Real Moms' Guide to Postpartum for active moms & the postpartum professionals who help them in their journey. This show has been a long time in the making! You can expect conversation with moms and postpartum professionals from all aspects of the industry. If you're like me, you don't have a lot of free time (heck, you're probably listening at 1.5x speed), so theses interviews will be quick hits to get your the pertinent information FAST! If you love what you hear, share the podcast with a friend and leave us a 5 start rating and review. It helps us become more visible in the search algorithm! (Helps us get seen by more moms that need to hear these stories!!!!)