I had a disagreement/argument with my mum today. I think that she has narcissistic tendencies and is certainly often quite difficult to get on with. I am 30 weeks pregnant with my second child. I've not been particularly well throughout the pregnacy and am feeling a bit fragile and emotional.
Today she came to our house to give a hand with my DD and also for a general visit.
The argument arose after she tried to get my DD to eat a bit of half chewed food which had fallen on the table or her clothes. I admit I did snap/ speak sharply to my mum but I felt it was a pretty disgusting thing to try to get my DD to do. It was a bit of the main course and my DD was half way through her pudding. At the time, my mum seemed to accept it, but after was rolling her eyes and puffing and muttering: clearly annoyed about something.
Despite being a bit emotional, I spoke to her about this. The conversation became about wider issues, namely me feeling that she is very disapproving of me and undermining and she saying she felt I am difficult to be around. She left after we had, on the surface, "cleared the air".
This was fine, but in my experience, this will not be the end of it. If she sticks to her typical patterns of behaviour, next time I see her, she will tell me how she hasn't been able to sleep because I have upset her so much, she has had migraines because I have caused her so much stress etc.
I feel confident that I was right to stand up for my DD, and I am feel sure that my other points about her general conduct towards me are fair and accurate. However, I don't feel up to a big "show down" or fall out. How do I manage/ deal with the anticipated reaction without backing down and taking all the "blame" and responsiblity for this?