Delivering my baby 15 weeks early. The many months in the NICU were very difficult, and so were the first years at home when I wasn’t sure how extreme prematurity would impact my child’s health and development.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Realizing how women get downgraded by society once they become mothers.

Really? Not my experience. Women are less valued than men regardless of their mothership status.

Well obviously, and we get downgraded even further once we have kids. And women “of a certain age” who don’t have kids for whatever reason are valued even less.

This sounds so petty after the much more serious and awful experiences above, but the constant neediness and touching is really tough for me. If they are awake, I’m always carrying someone or being used as a jungle gym.

Feeling like I had to choose between my kids and my career.

Anonymous wrote:Realizing how women get downgraded by society once they become mothers.

Really? Not my experience. Women are less valued than men regardless of their mothership status.

Having zero annual leave or sick leave when i returned to work after maternity leave. Actually I had less than zero leave because I was in the hole. And of course my kids got me very sick every winter. I remember throwing up in the bathroom and laying in the floor in there and crying about it

Second to that would be how rabid family got over every holiday and vacation. We used to be able to go on a vacation and no one would care. After kids they called us selfish for not inviting them. Or for even wanting a vacation. Inlaws told us we should only spend our vacation staying at family's homes. Meanwhile no one visits us, but we're selfish.

Raising my children alone after we all watched my husband die of cancer.

The pettiness of every. single. battle. with my three year old. Everything is a fight. I’m the primary parent and sometimes I give in and let it go-but I know he is a much better listener with DH because DH is always firm. It’s still soul-sucking to have an argument/temper tantrum over what color cup he’s using for lunch.

Realizing how women get downgraded by society once they become mothers.

A phone call at 3:11am telling me my son had been wounded in Afghanistan. Nothing else even comes close.

I’m a single parent. Lots of things have been hard but the worst has been how much my teenagers disrespect me. It’s very hard to keep myself going.

As long a one parent is healthy when DS is sick, it sucks, but manageable. But when all of us go down, it’s horrible. And DH and I have to figure out who is worse off.
Or whe DS is fine and DH and I are both sick—Ugh, the worst.

Trying to be patient when I’m just annoyed all the time. ALL THE TIME. It’s mostly related to my 4 y/o, I’m more patient with the baby. I feel like such a bad mom.

Feeling like my time is never mine, finding the energy to be energetic and playful when I’m tired, worrying about special need and IEP, fighting with husband about helping more. I love my child so damn much and yet I’m miserable being a mom.

Recognizing and working on developmental delays. Also, dealing with school and evaluation, IEP process. And handling judgment from parents of typically developing kids.