08/30/2026
Hi, I’m Catherine.
I’m not here to talk about the trial, I’m here to talk about how the system fails women every day & my story. My story is a lucky one. My story involved emails to my therapist wanting to go meet the lord at 2am when I was sleep deprived. My story involved ‘joking’ about taking a dirt nap because mentally I was so spent.
My story is lucky because I had support. I had sisters who would come over even if I told them no. My story had my friend Hannah who lived 1,700 miles away call me until I answered because she knew I was avoiding talking to anyone. My story has my friend Tiffany who gave me a part time job at her boutique to get out of the house when I told her I was going stir crazy & constantly prayed over me. My list could go on and on about how lucky I was.
After one draining therapy session, my therapist simply asked me ‘is not being here truly what you want, or is it just what you’re telling yourself’ and it had me think so hard. I was holding Josephine, feeding her and probably hadn’t eaten lunch myself when I realized I never wanted her to experience life without a mom. There were SO many factors in my postpartum depression. And that’s what’s scary. When I say Josephine saved me, I truly mean it. I never want to live life without her, or the other way around. I got the help because my system didn’t fail me.
When I started baking and bringing treats to my friends and community members, it really brought out a sense of peace to me. It brought joy, it brought togetherness, it helped me get out of bed for something other than being a milk supply for my infant. The encouragement to put myself out there and start selling my baked goods was a gift I didn’t know I needed.
Other women are failed every day. By their partners, family, doctors and friends. Let this trial be a reminder to check on your friends, your village. You must inconvenience yourself for others sometimes, and that is how you build a strong community and connection. My biggest hope is we continue to try and fix our broken system 💛
