Dear Lindsey,
I am not judging you. I will not judge you. Unfortunately, you are not alone in how you were feeling and what you experienced. However, it went too far. You should have been provided the help needed to prevent this tragedy. This world does not understand the importance of mental health and the need for help postpartum. This world does not provide a safe and comfortable space for moms to express how they are really feeling after having a baby.
My story is not as tragic as yours, but I remember how down I felt after the birth of my firstborn. I would not wish that feeling on my worst enemy. So for you to do what you did, I can not even imagine how down you were and how lost you were. No one warned me of the hormonal changes that impact mothers after they give birth. No one spoke to me about postpartum anxiety or depression.
It was Friday in July of 2016. I had been in labor for 3 days straight, with no medication. My baby finally came, and I did not get that overwhelming feeling of happiness. I did not cry happy tears; I was tired. I felt guilty because I did not act the same way the movies show parents act after a new baby is born. Fast forward to going home two days later, I sobbed as soon as I walked in the door. That sobbing did not stop for 2 weeks. I could not explain why I was sad. I just cried. Thinking that I was not ready to be a mom. Feeling regretful. Feeling lonely even in a house full of people. Feeling like I missed my old life. And on top of all that, feeling guilty for having these feelings. I have wanted to be a mother my whole life. I knew that is what I was meant to do, so why was I upset and regretful? Why was I not excited and embracing this new aspect of life? Add in lack of sleep and I was literally a ball of anxiety, depression, and exhaustion.
Five days in, I knew I needed to talk to someone. Luckily, my therapist I had seen in the past, was available to see me. I described my symptoms and experience and she stated it sounded like postpartum anxiety, not postpartum depression. Postpartum anxiety symptoms include feelings of isolation, moments of sadness and anger, and body aches, whereas, postpartum depression is more depression, suicidal thoughts, thoughts of harming your baby, hopelessness, and irritability. She said it can also be called “baby blues” and it is NORMAL. When she used the word normal, I felt a slight sense of relief. She said the first two weeks are always the hardest, with such a drastic hormonal change. She told me if I am not back to my normal self by day 15, to give her a call.
Each day passed, I cried, I counted down the days, and I woke up a new woman on day 15. I cannot describe how those two weeks felt, so Lindsey, I cannot imagine what you have been going through and feeling. It is not your fault. It is no one’s fault. My only blame is on humankind. We need to do more research and really understand the detrimental effects postpartum has on mothers. I want to shout from the rooftops! Stop saying “how could she do that to her children, her family?” You are not a cold-blooded murderer. You are not a psychopath. You are a mother who was suffering from a mental illness that could not be addressed soon enough. If all women shared their stories, my hope is that it would reduce the stigma of postpartum issues for all mothers across the world.
This needs to be a part of all education. This needs to be part of birthing classes and classes to help moms-to-be. The fathers and/or spouses should also attend and learn how to be a caregiver of someone who is experiencing postpartum. Yes, your story is tragic. No one can imagine all the feelings you are feeling. Your time is not over yet, so I hope you get the help you so desperately need and know that while some may be judgmental and hateful, know that you have a band of mothers who understand that you were not in control of your thoughts, feelings, and actions that day.
Praying for you and your family, always.
I’m sorry this is not okay at all on any level. I have my BA in psychology and there is an extremely FINE line in excusing a person for making the choice to play the hand of GOD” in deciding to take the LIFE of another human being and not just a human being, the 3 lives of the innocent children that both She and her hiusband chose to bring into this world. Reading her husbands words in he stood by his wife as she worsened…hello? She was a nurse…seriously? No one thought maybe she needed some help? This disgusts me as a mother of a 2 year old and 3 month old boy. Life is hard yes, mental illness is very real, absolutely. Making the choice to send your husband on an errand so you can murder your 3 Babies in the basement is premeditated it’s disgusting and what a coward for trying to take her own life following. It is sad she didn’t receive the treatment she needed but why did she not? So that makes it okay to commit murder, murder of 3 innocent children, her own children! The first thought of killing Anyone let alone your own children would be enough to prob check yourself in for longer than 5 days. Reading this story and her husbands “prayer” or whatever for forgiveness made me sick to my stomach, tears flow & I grabbed both my boys held them so close and told them you should never have to fear the people that love you the most, your parents. Lindsey deserves everything that gets thrown at her. Although I have always been an advocate for mental health due to my educational background in it…now that I am a mother, I absolutely cannot at all find it in my being to feel sorry for this woman whatsoever. They are religious well God is not always a forgiving god and paralysis is a wonderful start to remind that woman daily of how she selfishly & successfully killed her children and loved herself just a little bit more than her kids to not follow thru with ending her own life. God works in mysterious ways…wouldn’t you say? I pray those angels are soaring beyond limits. I pray the real, caring, wonderful mothers of the world that were also taken to quickly from their children are embracing these babies e wry moment in their afterlife. I pray justice be served with an eye for an eye both in the court of law, prison and Jesus Christ himself. I am a realistic catholic and just for the record, Lindsey, your going to hell. Your hell started when you didn’t follow thru with your sad attempt of a 2 story jump that you knew wouldn’t kill you. I feel nothing but disgust for this pathetic excuse of a woman and mother.
You are a jealous and disgusting person, Elizabeth. The irony of your self righteous ignorant statements is that Lindsey was hands-down a better mother and human being than you’ll ever be. Educate your pathetic, envious self before posting publicly. Thanks
Yeah no Lynn she wasn’t a better mother than almost everyone she murdered her three children with exercise bands wrapped around their throats and strangled them to death. The five year old for sure would have fought. What is wrong with you women empathizing and identifying with her so much. By the way she didn’t really try all that hard to kill herself did she. A nurse, who had no problem making sure her killing of her kids was successful missed cutting her carotid artery and two radial arteries? The carotid is super easy to locate even a layperson can do it. The wounds were so superficial that she had stopped bleeding before the ambulance even arrived.
And she worked in a hospital, guess what when you work as a nurse in a hospital you know what happens when people jump from heights. Two stories isn’t high enough, and she knew that, to cause someone to die. It usually results in sprains or fractures to arms and legs. It was a fluke she fractured her back promise she didn’t expect to get that injured. Enough with lamenting her she murdered her three children and was a benzodiazepine addict.