Mommy Bloggers for Pushing Motherhood

Here’s what I learned at Diane Mizota’s LAdyInfluencers Lunch this weekend: Mommy bloggers are masters of the selfie. Yes, you could depend on someone else to take your picture, but there’s nothing more immediately gratifying than capturing that goofy grin yourself.

Here’s what else I learned: Despite the ridiculous amount of press despairing how catty and backstabby women can be, there is no place on earth where you’ll feel more supported and encouraged and generally loved than in a room full of mommy bloggers.

We’re all about tweeting and sharing and complimenting each other. And handing each other tissues. Especially when the occasion hits a nerve, like this one did.

The lunch was to celebrate “Pushing Motherhood,” a new documentary about the trend of delaying conception, which is Kickstarting now through May 24th. After watching the trailer, co-directors Sybil Azur and Linda Cevallos-French shared their reasons for making the film: The number of first-time mothers over age 35 has increased eight times since 1970. Why? And what are the repercussions?

If the trailer can make a room full of women laugh and cry and love and learn, imagine what the movie could do. Sybil and Linda, who’ve been friends so long they finish each other’s sentences, also use the film to share their personal experiences with motherhood: While making the documentary, Sybil conceived and gave birth to her first child, while Linda struggled with infertility.

Sybil and I talked about the environmental connection that she discovered while making the film. “We’ve come across experts that have pointed to the toxins in our environment as possible culprits for unexplained infertility,” she told me. “Women that are diagnosed with unexplained infertility are left without answers, and often spend years in turmoil trying to identify the reason why they have been unable to conceive a child.” These experts point to chemical cleaning products and ubiquitous toxins like BPA as possible causes. I’d add Teflon to that list.

This is a documentary I can’t wait to see, which is why I just donated to the Kickstarter campaign. Seriously, if the trailer can make a room full of women laugh and cry and love and learn, imagine what the movie could do. Will you take a minute to chip in?

Meanwhile, here’s what else I learned at the LAdyInfluencer lunch: