Blog Stalking

Tonight I was blog stalking (reading other people's blogs) and I happened upon the blog of one of my sorority sisters from college, Abby Maddox. I love to read her blog because she writes with such an amazing honesty about marriage and motherhood.

Anyway, tonight as I read her blog she shared a story, and a link to an organization, that I want to share with you.

Jenny's Light is an organization started by the family of a girl who committed suicide last year. Jenny was a girl much like myself. She went away to college, met a boy, fell in love, got married and started a life with him. After a few years of marriage, they decided to have a baby. Her pregnancy wasn't the easiest, she was pretty sick, but she carried her little boy to term and he was born last year on November 1, 2007. Motherhood was an adjustment for her-- much like it is for all of us.

On December 19th of last year, Jenny went to a store in Birmingham, bought a gun, and killed herself and her little boy. She suffered from post-partum depression.

As I sit here holding my sweet little boy-- the one who God so graciously gave me but forgot to leave a handbook for-- I'm saddened. I'm sad for this girl's family, they lost a daughter and a grand baby, a wife and a son; but mainly I'm sad for Jenny. I'm sad that she felt so lonely and so hopeless during what should have been the happiest time in her life.

I read a little more about post-partum depression tonight and it really is more common than I realized. It angers me to think that so many people suffer because they are too ashamed to ask for help. There seems to be a stigma attached to becoming a mom-- we think we can do it all and asking for help makes us seem incapable.

I'm so grateful to have the support of such an amazing network of mom's. Of course my mom is my rock, but the support of my friends at work, who readily offer advice and answer any of the questions I have, makes motherhood so much more navigable. Thanks to all of you.

If you would like to visit Jenny's Light, the website is www.jennyslight.org