– This is going to be a little therapy moment, so feel free to move along. I’m writing because I need to do something and this is pretty much all I can do right now.
I’m not the depressive type. I usually get angry a lot easier than I get sad, but once in a while it happens, like I’m sure it does to everyone. I start to feel vulnerable and any little thing can set me off. This has been happening for the last week and i’ve been fighting it the best I can with my usual attitude of placing one foot in front of the other and just doing the job in front of you.
It worked, more or less, until today. Today i found myself in an empty house, trying to clean, with a baby that wouldn’t stop crying unless I was holding her. I had to climb up and down a bench to clean the kitchen cupboards with her strapped to my chest, had to hold her head up while I wiped the floor and eventually found myself having to breastfeed in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet because there was nowhere else to sit, apart from the floor, and I started to cry as hard as she did. It was quite a pathetic moment and I kept telling myself to get over it but it just didn’t work.
I’m stubborn, so I kept going, cleaning and periodically bursting into tears for no aparent reason, until 2 PM when I finally gave up. I was tired, hungry and empty.
I came home and kept trying to shake this feeling off with no luck. It’s not so much feeling sorry for myself as it is a need not to be – here, anywhere. I’m not suicidal, so it feels like there’s no way out. I suppose I’m just tired, but there it is. I would never be so selfish as to kill myself, no matter how I feel. It doesn’t matter how I feel. My life isn’t my own any more and I do what I have to for my kids. But it’s not easy to convince yourself that it’s enough to be nothing more than a food source for the moment.
I’m trying hard not to cry in front of the children, to keep playing, to pretend everything is normal. When it gets too much I go hide somewhere for a while until I can stitch myself back together for another hour or so. I guess I just have to keep trying. There’s nothing else I can do.
Não é fácil ser-se mãe e gerir uma casa… Ou melhor, neste caso duas… Há uns dias piores que outros!! Amanhã logo acordas a sentir-te melhor 🙂
Tem cuidado com a depressão pós-parto, mudar de casa nesta altura deve ser bastante complicado. Não tentes ser a super mulher e fazer tudo, tem calma e aproveita o tempo com a Joana, como bem sabes, acaba bem depressa!
Epá, eu não gosto de comentar estas coisas, são rants pessoais e tão depressa chegam como vão embora.
Eu tive depressão pós-parto com o Gabriel e ainda tomo uma dose mÃnima de anti-depressivo, por isso eu conheço em primeirissima mão todo este drama.
Vou-te dizer aquilo que tu já sabes: onde raio é que estavas com a cabeça para te ires pôr a limpar a casa nova com a bebé atrelada? Se não fosses tu quem faria, não é?
A lição mais importante que já aprendi nisto da maternidade (e que mesmo assim parece que a esqueço) é pedir ajuda. Ajuda para não estar sozinha todo o dia com um bebé que chora, ajuda para as refeições, ajuda para limpar, ajuda para passear. Ajuda. Não ter medo de a pedir e aceitar todas as ofertas.
Bom, e agora esquece lá tudo o que escrevi que isto acabou por ser um rant meu…
Querida Dee,
Acontece aos melhores.
Bjs