Yesterday was my son’s 6th birthday and today this beautiful picture my sister made showed up in my Timehop feed:
I look at my son, my face, the quote, and I feel a surge of emotions. I remember how shortly after this picture was taken I became overwhelmed by Jack’s inability to latch, I remained in a semi-state of shock from an emergency c-section, and I began to feel incapable of mothering my son. A feeling that lasted for months.
Today’s Five Minute Friday prompt is “dear.” And I think to myself, if I had 5 minutes and could tell my new mama self anything, knowing what I know now about myself, about my son, about my marriage, about breastfeeding, about having a c-section… what would I say? Let’s find out…
Dear New-Mama-Me,
Congratulations! You hold in your arms the little boy who will steal your heart.
Right now he is a stranger and it feels odd to hold him, and that’s ok. But in a few short months you will begin to feel that you would die for him without second thought. You will pick him up while he is sleeping because you will miss holding him. You will delight in his contagious laugh and his natural empathy for others. You won’t remember not being his mama and you would never go back.
But between now and then, you are going to struggle. And when I say struggle I mean you are going to scare yourself because of your extreme feelings of fear and pain. This is the hardest thing that is ever going to happen to you. The greatest transition, the greatest task, with the most difficult emotions.
Though you will love your son, at times you will resent him.
Though you will love your son, he will make you cry.
Though you will love your son, his birth just stirred up your hormones and you will be depressed again.
And I know how scary depression is for you.
You feel out of control, terrified of what it could bring, and are at a complete loss for what to do about it.
New-Mama-Me, if I could go back and tell you one thing it would be to seek help. I know you don’t like your OB much and she has the intuition of a gnat. When she says, “Don’t you just love him to pieces?” Answer honestly and say, “No.” You will probably cry. And that’s ok. You need to cry. You need to get help for this thing called Postpartum Depression before you’re looking back at the first year lost to illness.
Don’t worry, even if you don’t tell her the truth, you will be ok. Jack will grow to be a compassionate child. And you will get help for your depression during the middle of a 6 inch blizzard on an October afternoon.
But just in case you can hear me, please don’t be afraid to ask for help. Because you’ve never done this before. And it’s hard. It’s hard for every New-Mama. I don’t think it comes naturally to anyone.
Oh! One more thing you need to know: You’re doing the best you can. And that’s good enough. I mean it.
I’ll see you soon,
Me
This post is part of the larger Five Minute Friday community found on Kate Motaung’s blog. We write, for five minutes, together. No major edits. No second guesses, just writing to connect, to grow, to be. We would love to see you there.
Lovely words, and I know they will be a blessing to others. Asking for help is hard, but so important. Love the sweet picture of you and baby boy. Stopping in from FMF.
Leah,
What a beautiful son and mama. Have tears in my eyes from reading your letter. Happy belated birthday to your son.
This is beautiful, and so sweet. Thank you for being so open and sharing that with us, today! You have inspired me to write a letter to “past me”, as well. Thank you!
Anastasia Rose
walk-in-the-rain-with-me.blogspot.com
What a great idea! I remember how completelt exhausted and pretty much overwhelmed I was with the birth of my first…now after number three I WISH I had that letter you wrote! Beautiful! You are an amazing mom!