I came across a terrific post the other day at another blog (labairi) here at wordpress and just have to share it with you. It was written by Dan, husband of Jenna who writes the Life.After.Baby blog. This particular post spoke volumes to me and with my upcoming series in June that will peek into the point of view of Fathers, I wanted to give Dan a voice here as well. He agreed to let me use his post and I thank him for his openness and willingness to share.
Here’s an excerpt:
In a conference room about the size of my living room, in other words, not too big, about 45 people were crammed in for a night of discussion, encouragement and healing. I was literally blown away. The first time (and sadly the only other time) I went the room was tiny with two nurses, four or five other women and us. That was almost 11 months ago. It was great to see that so many mothers were willing to take the steps necessary for them to heal and find support.
We walked in and found seats. i almost immediately clicked with Jeep – Yes that is his nickname. He leaned over and whispered to me with a grin, “Isn’t it great that we don’t have to cut through the bulls**t? We all know why we’re here. There’s no shame in this.” I know that his last statement is why support groups like this really do work. There are no false pretenses; everyone knows why they are there. The honesty is real and vulnerable. If it wasn’t, the group wouldn’t be doing its job. But it is honest, and it is good. After introductions, we separated with the fathers and other family members heading out to another room. The mom’s got to say and enjoy massages and great company. The men received an open and honest lesson about the harsh realities of PPD.
Each story was different, but each story was exactly the same. And while some were worse than others, the symptoms are real and are experienced. Regardless, sharing stories of the battle is one of the most important precursors to healing. In sharing our story again, I feel like in many ways I re-upped the commitment to beating this thing together.