Moods of a mother
(with postnatal
depression)
loving
affectionate
peaceful
tired
caring
affectionate
irritable
tired
caring
obsessive
controlling
fixated
happy
adoring
moody
frustrated
joyous
hyperactive
anxious
elated
nervous
adoring
irritable
adoring
loving
guilty
miserable
depressed
cheerful
anxious
affectionate
anxious
loving
insecure
tired
content
“My patience, resolutions and beliefs are tested to the limits – sometimes daily.”*
Right at this moment one of my challenges is the constant, tuneless whistling from my elder son. When my boys were babies it was getting them to sleep or trying to figure out why they were crying. On any given day now, it might be squabbling, fighting, teasing, screaming, shouting or rudeness. Who’d be a parent? We might well question ourselves after the event, but we can’t very well put them back! Just how we find those inner resources, how we constantly demand more of ourselves, how we keep marching up that hill with a smile on our face and gladness in our heart at the sight of our ‘babies’ is one of life’s mysteries.
* © from Being Mummy by Anne‑marie Taplin published April 2007