Wow, Katherine, thank you for sharing your story and experience of matrescence. I am sorry you went through such a traumatic time right after childbirth in the PICU, that sounds absolutely awful. Your description of weepiness during new motherhood resonated deeply with me, likely heightened by the fact that I am pregnant with my third. I definitely find myself feeling more tender about... everything. i can't really think of it as a bad thing, though, even if it is damn annoying sometimes.
Jeff, thanks for sharing about your feeling of quiet. I might propose that someone who recently wrote a whole book deserves as much of a rest from words as they need. Your fans here have many, many back pieces and chapters to read through if we miss your voice. Thank you for doing what you do.
alongside this remembering, our maternal bodies continue to "remember" because we absorb a bit of our child's DNA as they grow inside of us. Forever linked physically, and emotionally.
Wow, so profound a story Katherine. Thank you for sharing that with us. As a long ago Pediatric nurse who later switched to Emergency medicine, I remember as a nurse many tearful, fretful times. Part of my job was flying sick babies who needed NICU to OKC. We didn't have one, even in our rather large hospital back then. I loved my job, despite those great moments of sadness. It was more than a job. I wish you many blessings.
Katherine’s story brought so many emotions back to me. My twin sons are adults now and one has children of his own, but immediately after an emergency C-section, one son was whisked off to NICU. A couple of days later both boys were thriving, but only one was ready to come home with me. I’ll never forget the memories of feeling like I had failed as a mother since I had to leave one son there. How would I visit him, would he know me, would someone be able to love him in my place? My son remembers none of this and is completely healthy now, but those memories for me bring fresh doubts about my mothering abilities.
Thanks for sharing Katherine’s beautifully written story.
Oof. Such a relatable, timely essay. This matrescence has helped me understand Mother God so much more clearly. If I, a very average, ordinary mother, can be moved so deeply by my own precious ones cries and hurts, and then by extension, to the cries and hurts of the children (and their mothers!) literally everywhere, how much more must God feel the pain of their creation and be moved to action? I have found that deeply comforting in these tumultuous times...
Wow, Katherine, thank you for sharing your story and experience of matrescence. I am sorry you went through such a traumatic time right after childbirth in the PICU, that sounds absolutely awful. Your description of weepiness during new motherhood resonated deeply with me, likely heightened by the fact that I am pregnant with my third. I definitely find myself feeling more tender about... everything. i can't really think of it as a bad thing, though, even if it is damn annoying sometimes.
Jeff, thanks for sharing about your feeling of quiet. I might propose that someone who recently wrote a whole book deserves as much of a rest from words as they need. Your fans here have many, many back pieces and chapters to read through if we miss your voice. Thank you for doing what you do.
alongside this remembering, our maternal bodies continue to "remember" because we absorb a bit of our child's DNA as they grow inside of us. Forever linked physically, and emotionally.
Wow, so profound a story Katherine. Thank you for sharing that with us. As a long ago Pediatric nurse who later switched to Emergency medicine, I remember as a nurse many tearful, fretful times. Part of my job was flying sick babies who needed NICU to OKC. We didn't have one, even in our rather large hospital back then. I loved my job, despite those great moments of sadness. It was more than a job. I wish you many blessings.
Thank you, Jeff, for this post. Katherine's contribution was soulful and altogether nourishing.
Katherine’s story brought so many emotions back to me. My twin sons are adults now and one has children of his own, but immediately after an emergency C-section, one son was whisked off to NICU. A couple of days later both boys were thriving, but only one was ready to come home with me. I’ll never forget the memories of feeling like I had failed as a mother since I had to leave one son there. How would I visit him, would he know me, would someone be able to love him in my place? My son remembers none of this and is completely healthy now, but those memories for me bring fresh doubts about my mothering abilities.
Thanks for sharing Katherine’s beautifully written story.
Oof. Such a relatable, timely essay. This matrescence has helped me understand Mother God so much more clearly. If I, a very average, ordinary mother, can be moved so deeply by my own precious ones cries and hurts, and then by extension, to the cries and hurts of the children (and their mothers!) literally everywhere, how much more must God feel the pain of their creation and be moved to action? I have found that deeply comforting in these tumultuous times...