Marrit Ingman’s memoir on postpartum depression, Inconsolable: How I Threw My Mental Health Out with the Diapers, is on the shelves now. The book is smart, funny, and groundbreaking. She writes honestly about her struggle to effectively parent her high-needs child when all she wanted to do was drive off a highway overpass.
Stacey Greenberg, the creator of the zine Fertile Ground: For People who Dig Parenting recently talked with Marrit via email to discuss the book, talk about the current state of motherhood, and even make fun of Dr. Sears a little.
Stacey Greenberg: Tell me a little bit about what you are doing now, how old Baldo is, and what’s happening with the book.
Marrit Ingman: Baldo will be four in February. He's doing so much better with his allergies, and he's a much happier, more multidimensional person than he was as an infant. He's even growing out of his eczema, although we did have to deal with it a lot longer than we would have hoped. For a while we were doing UV treatments at the dermatologist's office three times a week and going to an acupuncturist. We did homeopathy. And one day he just stopped having a full-body rash. I still can't find the smoking gun. I should mention that after I finished writing the book, the Tacrolimus ointment we were using that made such a difference turned out to be carcinogenic. That was a bummer. I wish I could go back and pencil that into the book, "But it's carcinogenic! Don't use it!"
He goes to preschool now and is an active, social kid. He wears Vic Firth drummer's headphones because he's afraid of loud noises, but other than that he's indistinguishable from other little kids.
I'm still writing movie reviews for the Austin Chronicle–see “Tony Takitani!
