THE PARENT TRAP

Having a baby turns any woman’s life upside down, but for some mums the overwhelming emotion is not joy but regret – and a yearning for the life they had before giving birth. Anna Moore examines motherhood’s last taboo

When Emma became pregnant at 32, everything seemed perfect. She had spent her twenties having fun and following her passion, building the portfolio career she wanted as a musician. She’d married at 30. Now she felt ready for the next stage. Her pregnancy was a breeze – no sickness, no stress, no signs of what was to come – and her son was born on a warm spring afternoon (a water birth, no pain relief). But in less than a week, she became aware of a new reality. “It was this horrible sense that I’d made a mistake,” Emma says. “Instead of feeling happy or in love, as I’d expected, I just felt awkward around him, and everything was such an effort. And this feeling didn’t go away. When I…

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NEXT (Digital) - 1 Issue, June 2019

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