This is my story of when co-parenting fails. Two years after separating, it seems almost comical now how naive my initial expectations of co-parenting were. At the start I believed those advice pieces about the importance of creating a strong co-parenting relationship. I thought that the first time my son had a 40+ temperature his dad would…
When Your Husband Suffers Psychosis
Trigger warning – this post talks in detail about psychosis and mental health. It may be upsetting for people who have experienced psychosis or seen others suffer. The blogs I have read on mental illness tend to be clean and tidy. The moral is clear – goodness wins out in the end. I can only assume that an unspoken,…
A Letter To My Rainbow Baby
To my rainbow baby, Rainbow baby – I only learnt the term after your birth and it felt so apt. I smiled to picture you as a rainbow. That is exactly what you are – a colourful beam of joy, appearing at the end of a dark and dismal time. I’ve talked about my miscarriage before. Finding…
The Miscarriage
Trigger warning: This post goes into details of miscarriage. There are support links at the end of this post. Baby loss awareness week starts today. Like many women, I’ve suffered baby loss. At the time I felt like there were so few stories of baby loss out there that no-one knew what it meant –…
The Good Times
I have written a lot about the challenges of motherhood – single motherhood especially. As I put up posts like missing in action and this shit just got real, I worry that should I, or my son, (or really anyone) look back on this blog in years to come and think that this is the whole…
My Depression Diagnosis: Getting Help In Real Time
Six weeks ago I received a depression diagnosis, signed off work and given a prescription for prozac. This is my story so far. The first few days Last night I took the pill. Washed it back with a glass of water. Three seconds later I was panicking. Freaking out. Losing it. I texted a friend, confirmed I was just…
Why Having No Routine Is Great For My Son
I’m pretty sure talking about toddler routines in the negative is sacrilege amongst the parenting population. So I’m readying myself for the backlash at this brazen statement, but I mean it when I say not having a routine for my son has been good for him and for me. Contrary to popular opinion, babies and toddlers*…
The Benefits Of Being Raised By A Single Mum
Did you know there are benefits of being raised by a single mum? If you’ve ever googled ‘single mums’ you’d never know it. It makes for depressing reading. The articles written by religious zealots don’t surprise me. What’s more shocking are those articles claiming to be based on research and the opinion pieces in well known publications. Even my limited…
Some Non-Expert Tips For Suicide Prevention
On Thursday night I learned that we are coming to the end of suicide prevention, as well as pre- and post-natal depression awareness, week. I wanted – no needed – to write something. I had to share my thoughts on this topic. A topic which I never imagined I would have any insight into, but have somehow…
Keeping Mum: Why Do We Shush Mums?
It’s a strange thing isn’t it? That mum means, well, to be a mum, but to keep mum means being silent. How does that work? Mums are supposed to be silent? Granted, the origins of the two ‘mums’ are different, but it seems like a pretty neat coincident considering mums are being shushed wherever we go.…