What has Mumsnet seen you through...?

[ConfusedNoMore]

I am an old timer.

I joined when pregnant and terrified. DS is now 11.

I just saw in active a thread about what to put in your hospital bag and it took me back to when I joined. So this is my brief MN history...

MN helped me

pack my hospital bag
breastfeed
Talk about my health
Talk about sleep issues with my baby
Think about my marriage
Realize I was being abused
Find support when husband ended marriage
Get legal help
Talk to women's aid
Support my career
Buy a house
Buy lots of silly things that made me feel good
Fix my house
Think about women in society
Reconnect with my feminism
Manage my career progression
Helped me when my heart was broken
Manage my self esteem
Understand my child and his autism
Supported moving schools
.... And made me laugh like a drain many times

so thank you to all you wonderful women ( and some men, especially @pigletjohn)!

So what are your Mumsnet stories?

Many things. Including trying to conceive, multiple miscarriages, packing that hospital bag, supporting a child with additional needs, meal planning, style stuff and buying Christmas presents. Also much amusement at the crazy things that we humans get up to…

Shout out to @mrsterrypratchett I’ve always appreciated your comments.

<sniffle> that's lovely. Thank you.

And for my part, the early waking threads saved me. I don't know what I would have done without those women.

I joined looking for support and advice when I had Hyperemisis in my first pg. so that.
CS recovery
BLW (wasn't that common 14 years ago)
All Terrain buggies (I actually bought my Baby Jogger from an MNer)
DS behaviour issues
School application.
Starting periods, period pants

So, so much....

So much op...in particular nasty soul destroying mil pil issue's

Everything from my late 20s until early 40s!

Realising I was in love with my female friend, and then her passing away.

Moving back home after years abroad.

Meeting DH, having DC.

Embracing radical feminism and joining the good fight.

Not sure where I'd be without it!

What a great thread. Recognising my husband was abusive.

It's seen me through the last seven years since I was pregnant
With a nephrostomy
Sepsis
Multiple operations
Addiction and withdrawal
Two further pregnancies
Friendships
Relationships with my parents
Advice on budgeting and finances
Made me laugh when I was lower then I ever thought I could be
Helped me with so many tips and advice on purchases and places to stay

So many phases of my life, pregnancy, DD being so unwell, both my marriage and more recently relationship break ups.

The wakeful night threads.

Grateful for all of the support 😊

This is lovely 😊

Another old timer here. I found MN in 2007 looking for advice when my (then) husband decided to run off to Budapest with the “love of his life”. Left me with DC aged 3, 6 and 8. So many brilliant people here gave me the strength to carry on.

I’m now glad he went. I have 3 amazing young people who make me proud every day. I also have my own lovely house and a fab job. Wouldn’t change a thing 😊

Thanks MN x

DH's illness, diagnosis, death and more recently, it has helped me navigate grief.

When I had a very premature baby and struggled so, so hard to breastfeed, MN was there with advice and help.

Just knowing that I was not alone at 4am was so, so lovely.

Lovely thread - here 9 years having come from a very slow mums forum locally

its helped me navigate raising two kids
lots of personal issues
ideas for gifts
ideas and inspiration to declutter
helped me assert myself
ger a perspective on how others live / views
feminism

Sadness with multiple miscarriages.

But utter utter joy and disbelief when I discovered I was pregnant with my miracle baby after giving up all hope and deciding to stop.
That journey with multiple pages (it had hundreds & hundreds of comments and replies)
So many people came with me on that journey.

Behaviour problems with my ds.

I was called “pathetic” and ripped to absolute shreds during the 2nd lockdown for starting a positive thread about cherishing my day off from work and having the opportunity to stay home. Holy cow, it was MN at its very worst. Complete vipers nest of vicious nastiness that I had never before encountered. It was relentless, went on and on with only one or two kind posters.

So many about diy, friendship issues, health and I have shared moments of extreme vulnerability that I couldn’t share in RL.

My divorce. And it still helps.

Amid seven plus years of parenting and pregnancy advice, it has also taught me not to buy clothing that resembles a flying squirrel. Not a good look.

A lot of loneliness

My dc's primary years. I'm not British, so the school system here was so confusing.
I had so many help, on here, and personally through PM.
Especially shout out to the great teachers who still post under same usernames, mrz, Feenie, and Noble.
I can't thank them enough.

So much. Have mostly lurked since DS was born 15 years ago, but has been my go to for answers to almost every question I’ve had since. Budgeting, pensions, food and cooking, housekeeping, relationship issues, work childcare, feminism, autism, DD and periods, menopause, health, exercise, looking after elderly parents, and the laughs when you really need one. Thank you MN. X

Mumsnet has been there for me through the hardest hardest of times when I thought I had no strength left in me to see my way through the crescendo of emotions of my relationship failing. It picked me up when I fell and bolstered me when I needed fortitude and belief that better days would come.

It taught me about the script.

It taught me about self reliance and self respect.

It taught me I am worth something.

An affair and subsequent separation
a contentious will

1st year of DD’s life, I really struggled, never posted but even the “I regret having kids” threads helped immensely. Just to know it wasn’t just me and we don’t all come to motherhood naturally. Also loads of good advice.

Feminism, I think I kind of thought everything was getting better, the feminism threads helped to articulate my discomfort with a lot of things happening that just felt wrong but I didn’t want to be unkind. I am much more vocal now.

As much as people kick each other on MN I am certain there are women and children who are alive today because of MN. I think that’s a humbling thought. Push come to shove there are women advocating for women here. So force for good in my book.

Two babies (now 17 and 15)
Exh affair with my friend
Divorce
Puppy training
Loss of job due to mental Health issues
Sale of a house
Renovation of a listed house
Working on front line through pandemic
Dd2 MH issues
Meeting DP
Huge house fire
Getting secretly married (mn'er found me a wedding dress)

People slate MN and sometimes it's not as funny as it used to be -but it's been invaluable to me.

Breastfeeding
Employment issues
Mental Health
The deaths of both parents and a cousin within nine weeks last year.

Breast cancer.
Other people to talk to during the lockdowns.
DM dying suddenly.