Do you ever feel like you cannot draw the line between the sacred and the secular, between the spiritual and the mundane? I do. In fact, most of the time I think the mundane is the spiritual. Most of the time I don’t want to draw a line at all, but rather to draw a circle around the whole soggy, wonderful mess.

Being a mom is one of the most confusing job titles some women will ever carry. Of course, once you add just a word or three in front of the word mom, you are dealing with an entirely new set of questions. A mom? Oh? Are you a stay-at-home mom or a working mom? (And, yes, all moms are working moms, but go with that phrase for the time being to mean women who work outside of their home as well as within it.) I have watched over the years as shots are fired from one camp into the other time and again. I have had a great seat for these events? How did I get faboo seats? Simple. I have never been fully immersed in either world for very long.

Let's face it. Motherhood is tough. It doesn't matter if you live in a small town in the middle of no where or in the bright lights of Hollywood. Whether you have very little money or enough to throw around carelessly. The act of motherhood in and of itself is tough. It is for that reason that it is vital that mothers have a support system. A group of people in her life that can lift her up when she is low. People who can ground her when she is losing it. A support system that will stand by her in both good times and bad and offer support, advice and guidance. For many women one of those people that is so integral in her life is her own mother. That is not, however, always the case. Sometimes women do not have mothers they can count on or who are even around to be able to call upon when needed. Which is why a support system should be an integral part of every mother's life.

How much do you know about postpartum mood disorders?  In part because of the tragedy of Andrea Yates drowning her children, Brooke Shields writing a book about her experience, and Tom Cruise mouthing off to Matt Lauer, postpartum depression has gotten a lot more notice in the media these days.  But there's much more to it than what you hear on TV or read in the gossip mags.  And much of what you do hear -- surprise! -- is sensationalized and uninformed. Hello fellow BlogHers!  My name is Katherine Stone and I'm excited to join you as a guest editor on the topic of postpartum mood disorders.  Despite increasing awareness, many women know very little about them, and many new mothers who fall ill do not understand what is happening to them.  Even if they do, they're afraid to speak up because of the stigma of mental illness.  What if someone takes their children away?  What if people judge them as unfit mothers and terrible human beings?  Would you speak up about up about mental illness while at the same time the people around you are making fun of Britney Spears and astronaut Lisa Nowak (labeled by the gleeful media as the "Astronut")?  It would certainly make you think twice.  And if you did decide to reach out for help, who could you trust and where should you go?