It’s a harsh reality that so many new mothers will relate to. What do you to when you’re alone with your new baby and no matter what you do, you can’t settle them. You’re exhausted, stressed, overwhelmed and it’s all made worse because you’re operating on little to no sleep.
You think you’re the only one experiencing this, and wonder why so many other mothers out there seem to have it easier than you.
Well that’s exactly what happened to Zoe Marshall, wife of Kiwi rugby league star Benji Marshall, who has revealed her painful struggle in a candid post to Instagram.
Marshall gave birth to their son Fox at the end of February. The new parents shared their joy with Woman’s Day in the first few weeks of parenthood. But behind the scenes, Zoe has been doing it tough.
With Benji away playing for his NRL team the Wests Tigers, Zoe at times has had to face parenting by herself. After one particularly bad night, she opened up to her followers about her difficulties in the hope that she wasn’t alone.
“This is me,” the TV host and blogger wrote alongside an image of her in bed with tear-stained cheeks.
“Overwhelmed, after crying in my room for an hour. Benj had been playing away and I just couldn’t handle any of it.”
“I felt bad for wanting some space to breathe and weep. I felt scared that I didn’t know what Fox needed. I was so incredibly exhausted. Hungry. Depleted. Sad. Confused.”
“Week 2 and 3 was so hard for me…I hadn’t left the house in days. I couldn’t catch up with life. Couldn’t bare to see visitors. I wasn’t myself and wasn’t managing. Why didn’t parents talk about this phase? I felt so alone. Isolated.”
“There’s going to be so many joyful times with baby Fox shared on social media,” she continued.
“I need to show you the realness too, the days of not getting time to eat, of poo explosions (Fox’s not mine), of never ending laundry and dishes, of crying over nothing, of not being able to sleep when you get to have a sleep, of the sore neck, wrists, back, nipples, of butting heads with your partner and scrolling google for answers…not to mention the healing your body is going through, pants that don’t fit, strength you no longer have in your body.”
“It’s a hard hard time. As glorious as having a little miracle is we need to acknowledge the transition into parenthood and how challenging that can be.”
“I’m having much better days now with a few of these thrown in for good measure (like the last two days – brutal). This isn’t post natal depression it’s transition and I wish I was forewarned. I’d love to know I’m not alone.”
Zoe received an outpouring of support from her followers, with nearly 800 comments in 24 hours sympathising with her post and sharing their own parenting stories.
It’s safe to say she no longer feels alone.
