Hi everyone,
I'm struggling with whether I'm being overly sensitive due to pregnancy hormones, dealing with postnatal depression, or if my family is genuinely toxic. I'm 14 weeks pregnant with my first child, and recent events have made me question a lot.
Here's what's been happening: My parents rarely reach out to me, and it's always me making the effort to stay in contact.
However, I really caught a true glimpse of their behaviour which really hit home during a family BBQ last weekend. Everything was fine until my aunt started ranting about how much she hated my hen do, claiming my friends were rude and didn't make an effort with her. From my perspective, my friends were focused on me, as it was my hen do. What really upset me was my cousin and sister sniggering throughout her rant.
Feeling hurt, I walked away to avoid the negative energy and calm down. I didn't want to confront anyone and was feeling stressed and unwell. When I expressed my desire to leave, my dad insisted I stay the night to keep the peace. My mum told me to go outside and when I refused, explaining that I didn't feel up to it, she snapped, "There are billions of pregnant women in the world, why are you being so difficult? You're nothing special."
I ended up going to bed early but woke up in the early hours to find I was bleeding.
When I told my mum I needed to leave and go to the hospital, her main concern seemed to be which hospital I was going to, rather than if I was okay.
Fortunately, the baby is fine, but my midwife believes the bleeding was caused by chronic stress.
This whole situation left me feeling unsupported and invalidated. I do have antenatal depression, but I'm struggling to figure out if it's making me more sensitive or if my family's behavior is genuinely harmful.
Should I cut ties and focus on surrounding myself with positive people? I really need some advice on how to handle this situation.
Thanks for reading.