Matt posted this and I was curious because I too had a baby in the pandemic and now an insane toddler. I have to say it resonated so much. I also cried at the 5 day appointment, the doctor handed me a postpartum depression survey…not helpful. No one prepares you for the shift not just in lifestyle or time but in how you feel as a person having just become this mother. Thank you for so accurately describing what is often so hard to describe.
sometimes i wonder if the pandemic intensified the abrupt shift to motherhood but with or without it i doubt all the birthing, breastfeeding + 'taking care of baby' classes still wouldn't have prepared me. thank you for sharing, Laura.
Katie, your words are a gift. Thank you for sharing your experience! Soooo much of it resonated with me. I too found (find?) myself unsure of who I am sometimes. Losing my design industry job, the pandemic, becoming a mom - they all happened in close proximity to one another and it’s all still a little tricky to untangle. What feelings of invisibility are because I don’t have a “cool job” anymore? What feelings are because society in general doesn’t value childcare and now my 7,000 hr a week job is fully unpaid? What feelings are the result of the pandemic forcing me further apart from so many friends from my “old life”…? I don’t think I’ll ever know and it probably doesn’t really matter what the exact source is, the point is that I feel you. And feel less alone in my own invisibility because you shared this, so thank you.
Like you, I cherish my new job. There are multiple moments every day that outshine ANY great achievement from my old career. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sometimes crave some validation, some admiration, some sort of “oh cool, what an awesome job!”moment like I used to receive.
There’s so much more I could say and I wish we lived closer so we could go for an adventure with our toddlers and have an in person conversation about how disorienting this is and help each other through the haze. Big love to you Xoxox
As I think about and am on my journey to motherhood, reading this is providing me with more tools so thank you. Keep writing KD...it's beautiful to witness!
Katie, your words are so acutely precise to my experience that I found myself on the verge of tears many times reading this. Sometimes the layoff can be a gift, in the time you receive to reflect and just be in your life with no responsibilities to capitalism. I’m grateful for your reflections from the other side :) I’ve been trying to identify how I’ve been feeling lately and your words have shed some light onto my own experience. Silently piling on more and more of what is “expected of me”, and little time to assess how I’m even feeling in the thick of it. It’s physically and emotionally draining, yet I find myself lying awake some nights while my partner snores next to me. Isolation in motherhood is so real. Learning to create boundaries is necessary and at times feels impossible. Thanks for creating this space and inviting us all into it. Love to you!
thanks so much for sharing Lisa. motherhood can be so filling and so draining and so isolating all at once. i wish we lived closer so we could grab a coffee sometime. lots of love back to you too!
Matt posted this and I was curious because I too had a baby in the pandemic and now an insane toddler. I have to say it resonated so much. I also cried at the 5 day appointment, the doctor handed me a postpartum depression survey…not helpful. No one prepares you for the shift not just in lifestyle or time but in how you feel as a person having just become this mother. Thank you for so accurately describing what is often so hard to describe.
sometimes i wonder if the pandemic intensified the abrupt shift to motherhood but with or without it i doubt all the birthing, breastfeeding + 'taking care of baby' classes still wouldn't have prepared me. thank you for sharing, Laura.
Katie, your words are a gift. Thank you for sharing your experience! Soooo much of it resonated with me. I too found (find?) myself unsure of who I am sometimes. Losing my design industry job, the pandemic, becoming a mom - they all happened in close proximity to one another and it’s all still a little tricky to untangle. What feelings of invisibility are because I don’t have a “cool job” anymore? What feelings are because society in general doesn’t value childcare and now my 7,000 hr a week job is fully unpaid? What feelings are the result of the pandemic forcing me further apart from so many friends from my “old life”…? I don’t think I’ll ever know and it probably doesn’t really matter what the exact source is, the point is that I feel you. And feel less alone in my own invisibility because you shared this, so thank you.
Like you, I cherish my new job. There are multiple moments every day that outshine ANY great achievement from my old career. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sometimes crave some validation, some admiration, some sort of “oh cool, what an awesome job!”moment like I used to receive.
There’s so much more I could say and I wish we lived closer so we could go for an adventure with our toddlers and have an in person conversation about how disorienting this is and help each other through the haze. Big love to you Xoxox
As I think about and am on my journey to motherhood, reading this is providing me with more tools so thank you. Keep writing KD...it's beautiful to witness!
love you and excited for you as your carve out your own journey...here for you all along the way. xx
Katie, your words are so acutely precise to my experience that I found myself on the verge of tears many times reading this. Sometimes the layoff can be a gift, in the time you receive to reflect and just be in your life with no responsibilities to capitalism. I’m grateful for your reflections from the other side :) I’ve been trying to identify how I’ve been feeling lately and your words have shed some light onto my own experience. Silently piling on more and more of what is “expected of me”, and little time to assess how I’m even feeling in the thick of it. It’s physically and emotionally draining, yet I find myself lying awake some nights while my partner snores next to me. Isolation in motherhood is so real. Learning to create boundaries is necessary and at times feels impossible. Thanks for creating this space and inviting us all into it. Love to you!
thanks so much for sharing Lisa. motherhood can be so filling and so draining and so isolating all at once. i wish we lived closer so we could grab a coffee sometime. lots of love back to you too!
big love back ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
coming from an amazing wordsmith and superstar mother this means a lot. thank you thank you <3