Guilt (was The Mack Women)
Lynda Seehusen (lyndas@dordt.edu)
Wed, 28 Feb 1996 16:05:00 -0600 (CST)
I did the guilt thing for a long time after Emma was born. She was
7 weeks ahead of schedule and my pregnancy had been "textbook" according
to my dr. Then suddenly my water broke and the next day she was born.
I tried and tried to think of what I had done wrong. I blamed myself
for having moved a heavy box of books 2 weeks before she was born, I
blamed myself for not realizing that the bad backaches I had were actual
contractions, etc., etc.
I finally realized that I had done all I could based on what I knew at
the time. There's no way I could have prevented her from being
born early because even my dr. couldn't figure out what had gone
wrong after the fact! And the guilt was very destructive to me
psychologically. I felt like Emma deserved a better mommy and I
got very depressed. I realized that this was non-productive behavior
and I better just get busy *being* her mom and quit beating myself
up about what I "should" have done.
Congratulations on your girls :) I love their names!
Lynda, mom to Emma, 3.5 and Shannon, 4 1/2 months.
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"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's
life, she will choose to save the infant without even considering if there
are men on base." Dave Barry.
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