Having a baby at a very young age was quite an experience…I had left home and had studied my first year at university, in which I did rather well in, (everything except mathsjust passed this…phew!) and then voila! I had a baby.
My son entered our lives with a bang (he still does this, he is a very “HERE I AM!!! LOOK AT ME!” type of person). He was early, he wasn’t as healthy as he could have been and I found the whole experience painful and stressful. I did not cope well.
New mothers in general seem to always receive an abundance of advice (because let’s face it, NONE of us ever really know what we’re doing) from, I suspect, mostly well-meaning people…and because I was so young, I received so many barrels of advice. It began to feel like whenever I talked to someone I’d get flattened as the heavy barrel rolled over the top of me. Being so unsure of myself I tried most of it, and now I must apologise to my first-born for some of it!
I am sure that I suffered from undiagnosed postnatal depression and how on earth I came out of that season is quite a long, clouded, winding story. I strongly believe a key element of my journey was friendship. I attended a playgroup, I was, by a lot of years, the youngest mother there. I look back and am amazed at the women there who befriended and encouraged this teenage mum.
What a beautiful bunch of women! They were the shining lights in the midst of my darkness. They made me laugh, they were gracious, they put up with my teenage-ness, they inspired me and sometimes gave me an encouraging kick-up-the-backside to move me on to a better place! I appreciate them and am so grateful for the part they have played in my life.
These girls will always have a special place in my heart.
