I’m writing this from my bed tonight and before I could sit down, get comfortable and start writing I had to move piles of folded laundry from the bed to the floor. I have my alarm set for the morning and the automatic start programed on the coffee maker. I plan to wake up before my children and shower and have a plan for the day before they even start to stir in the morning.
When did this happen?

I have struggled since before I became a mother with waking up in the morning and I knew that once I became one I would have to figure it out. But that was the least of my worries. For the longest time all I was worried about was becoming a mother. Oh my god, how I couldn’t have it fast enough. We’re MARRIED!!! GET ME PREGNANT!
And we did just that. I was blurry eyed with happiness and naiveté. My (step)dad was dying and I was creating new life. I was becoming the one thing I always thought I wanted to be. My mom.
A mom.
I thought the other day as I was driving around how if I had to describe myself to someone I would finally admit that I’m a struggling stay at home mom.
I just didn’t know. No one told me. I didn’t have it figured out and truth is, you can’t figure it out before hand. But wow.
I’m 26 and have two kids. I feel like if we had waited to have children I would have WAY different feelings about becoming a parent now than I did then, but possibly I would have no idea still and the fire underneath me to get pregnant would be even hotter than it was. I just don’t know. But I like to think that I would have more of a head on shoulders about the decision.
It’s no secret that I was a baby, a spoiled child and adolescent. I admit that readily and am just now learning hard lessons and figuring things out that most people probably learn earlier. I get that, I know. I’m aware that my naiveté is still a very real part of my make-up. It’s just fading away.
I always knew what I COULD do, I never knew what I HAD to do. Which, yes, I am going to say right now that that was a huge disservice to me as a young woman, but I can’t go backwards and my parents did the best they could. I’m not a sob story of things gone wrong. Most things in my life have gone just fine, better than fine. I’m lucky. I’m still spoiled. I just know where it comes from now and how much it takes to be that way. I get it. I’m thankful. I understand the work that goes into spoiling someone. I appreciate it.
My children don’t. Someone else isn’t going to teach them this stuff. Someone else isn’t going to wake up before them and make them breakfast. There’s not a fairy waiting to make my job easier. In fact, at this point, there’s a child who’s waiting for me to figure this the fuck out already.
I put her to bed and she says – Mom, tomorrow can you wake up when I wake up? Can you get out of bed with me? Can you?
When did I stop thinking through this? When did I forget that I had someone on the other end of this relationship? Someone who was counting on me to be better than myself? To give 110%, to get over it and just do it. Who cares if it’s not what I want to do, if it’s not interesting to me. I DON’T GET TO DO THIS OVER. Why am I so afraid to do it now?
Being a parent is different for everyone. Do not underestimate that statement. My story will never be what your story is. Maybe we share the same struggle and same ideals, on a few things, but raising the next generation is a personal thesis of life that is as different as each and every snow flake that falls from the sky. It’s unexplainable. No two stories align. Nor should they.
And the BIG question right now is whether or not we’re done having children. Family is wondering, asking. We’re talking about it, wondering and thinking. I’m seeking medical help in order to ensure that if we aren’t done, it’s possible to have a pregnancy again. We’re on the track of building our family but neither one of us is willing to say that it’s what we’re doing.
I’m scared shitless to have more kids. It only adds to the insanity of what my life already is. It only adds time to the deadline of what we already have. I want to enjoy my husband and travel – having more children makes that harder, and delays plans. But when we look to the future we see more for our family than what is currently sitting at our dinner table.
Something’s missing. Some One is missing, but I won’t say that out loud. I can’t.

Truth is that I may not be able to have more children. I may not get any more chances to hold and cuddle and smell newborn skin right from birth. I may not get to breast feed or go through transition labor feeling every single cell in my body scream with life ever again.
I can get pregnant, that has never been the issue, but being pregnant has not proved to be a healthy option for me. For my life – for my future. If I don’t figure out these blood sugar issues, if we don’t get some closure here and heal from this, I won’t be having more babies.
Believe me, I know there’s medicine that will help me. I was on it with my last pregnancy. And I’m not crying out for help, I’m aware of the growing up I need to do to get this resolved, which is what I’m currently working towards, but the risks aren’t about me anymore.
It just isn’t about me anymore. And oh my word, that’s hard to admit. Faking it isn’t an option for me, either. I know that plenty of adults get through their days (jobs or not) by going through the motions and faking it til they make it. FUCK THAT. I’m not about to build a family and memories on something that never really made me happy.
But I am happy. When I step away from the day to day picture of drawing and cooking and playing games. When I get a second to be the one who looks in from the outside, I see the happiness and the love. I get it. I know why I do this. But being inside of it every day, being the one creating the happiness and doing the cooking, cleaning and drawing – being that person is hard for me. It’s an uphill battle for me to wake up and do that every day. To be aware that this is just what life means right now. It’ll change, it always does and when it does I’ll miss it. But right now, today and tomorrow and last week … I’m drowning.
I think this hits a chord with me right now because I’m in the middle of so much drama. Judgmental drama on mothers, on women. On being a woman, on becoming a mother.
I’m pretty sensitive to the plight of a mother right now. No matter their story. I used to be the one who was so very judgmental. I have friends, now, who are where I was. Judging their family members or other friends for the shortcomings as mothers, as women.
Please, God please, stop judging us. I have walked miles in shoes that I never understood and now I live in them every single day and I completely understand why a mother yells at her children when they do nothing wrong. When breathing is what the problem is.
I get it now, when neglect is what you think you’re watching, what you’re really seeing is a struggle to survive. To find the next branch that’s going to get you to the other side of the creek. Stop watching me flail and gasp for air. Either look away or be the one to throw me the rope. But stop talking about my shortcomings, or her shortcomings, in your superior know-it-all coffee date with other women who are also so willing to buy a ticket to the show.
Just stop.
(jodimichelle)