"I can't count how many times they've said to me in the 7 months since I gave birth to her, "Hey, are you tired of the girl?" "No, no, I'm fine," I always reply, and they look at me like I'm from some planet."
Yes, this question has become very common for me since giving birth. Sometimes people who don't know me at all, sometimes my closest friends, ask me, and it always makes me think: "Why do they expect me to be tired all the time?"
This idea of ??the “tired mother” is very widespread, and is often featured in movies, television, and even on social media. Often, when I would go out with my husband and daughter, they would still ask me this question, saying: “Hey, how are you? Who knows how tired you must be!”
Yes, it was true that we had challenges and fatigue every day, but it wasn't so dramatic that I was always complaining. Yes, I was tired, but not to the point where I asked for help from everyone I met.
My daughter spent her first month in the hospital, and I was always there, pumping milk every three hours. In pain and fatigue, but always with the hope that we would return home as soon as possible. After that happened, every day with her was an opportunity to spend more time together as a family.
While many women complain about the fatigue that comes with having a baby, as I read about in the story of a woman here at Anabel, for me it wasn't like that. Yes, there were difficult moments, I'm not minimizing anyone else's suffering at all, but I wasn't at the point where my whole life seemed like a constant nightmare.
Despite the exhaustion, I felt a great gratitude for every moment with my daughter. I would never have thought I would get this far, facing several difficult years of having a child. After years of struggling to bring a child into the world, finally, every moment with her was a gift that I wanted to savor without complaining.
To be honest, the huge struggle I went through with fertility, I think, made me stronger to raise my daughter without focusing on the negative aspects of this new experience. I felt strong, motivated, because I knew that every moment I spent with her was an opportunity I had waited so long to experience.
For some, motherhood is a journey filled with complaints and constant fatigue, but for me, it has been a journey filled with gratitude and joy, even when I was tired. It's not that we have to wear masks and always pretend that we are full of energy, but to accept that, yes, it is difficult, but it is also a gift."
Note: The article has been adapted by the editorial team for editorial purposes and clarity. Copyright Anabel.al / Reprinting without the permission of the editorial team is prohibited.
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