Leila Tualla: Mama, Author, & Advocate
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          advocacy

Advocacy is never ending

10/3/2020

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I recently did my first podcast interview ever with Mom&Mind. We talked about my birth story, my preeclampsia diagnosis, subsequent Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) stays for my premature babies. My eventual postpartum depression story in 2016, a small tidbit of my book, and the advocacy efforts I'm engaged in now.

The thing is.....I feel overwhelmed. There are so many things I want to do, I wish I could do for mamas and babies, and especially women of color, like me. But where do I start? 

Some days, I feel like I am truly just shouting from the rooftops and screaming into the void, only to hear just echoes of myself.

Some days, I do absolutely nothing.

And I wonder if my volunteer in peer support is doing anything at all. I almost feel like I'm letting my peers down but simultaneously sharing my lived experience and not.

Mental Health advocacy is exhausting. It truly is never ending and I have to wonder if I'm making any difference at all. 

So today was supposed to be the second day of Champions of Change Summit. I loved the energy from last year and I wanted so much to refuel and remember "my why." 

Covid took us online. It wasn't the energy that mirrored last year but let me tell you, if I could capture the passion emitting from the screen, I would bottle it up, hold on to it and remember the reasons for why I always leave my inbox open for mamas, why I keep speaking up, even if no one is listening. 

There will always be that one. The one who needed to hear my message. 

So even if I have been lacking on social media - some of it intentional, some of it...well homeschooling has kept me busy - I will continue to advocate in any way I can. 

So this is YET ANOTHER "website under construction" notice. But I won't be changing too much around. I'll be adding resources for maternal mental health and premenstrual dysphoric disorder tabs. 

​What do you normally want to see on a lived experience advocacy page?
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    MAMA

    In 2012, my daughter was born at 31 weeks due to Preeclampsia and spent 43 days in the NICU. When I found out I was pregnant again, I became anxious about history repeating itself. He was born at 34 weeks in 2016. I had another premature baby, another NICU stay, another preeclampsia diagnosis. This time, I added postpartum depression to my history.
    ​As a preeclampsia and postpartum depression survivor, I advocate for maternal mental health.

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Leila Tualla is a Filipino-American poet and author based in Houston, Tx. Leila’s books include a YA contemporary romance called Letters to Lenora and a memoir/poetry collection called Storm of Hope: God, Preeclampsia, Depression and me. Her poetry is featured in several mental health anthologies and she is currently working on a poetry collection based on Asian American stereotypes and identifies. Her chapbook “pmdd & me,” will be out this Spring 2022. ​

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  • HOME
  • about me
  • Blog
  • News & bookshelf
    • Media
    • Books >
      • Letters to Lenora
      • Love, Defined
    • Poetry >
      • PMDD & me (poetry chapbook)
      • Storm of Hope
    • Anthologies >
      • The Sacred Feminine II
      • The Poetry Marathon 2021
      • Remnants of Home
      • Poetica II
  • ADVOCACY
    • RESOURCES for PMDD warriors >
      • IAPMD
    • Community resources for moms >
      • Pregnancy and Postpartum Support
      • 2020 Mom
      • Preeclampsia
      • Momma's Voices
      • Shades of Blue Project
  • Contact