I love your costume! I just started reading the books about a month ago and have read the first 6. Dh and I have also watched both seasons of True Blood and even he’s hooked on the show. Are you on team Eric or team Bill?

Your little brother watches it???? It’s rated R lotsa sex and boobs…OMG

Chase absolutely ADORES my Dad it was awesome.

Sookie. really? My brother watches that show and it’s beyond weird. Who knew they’d have a costume for that?

I’m so glad your dad was able to meet Chase!

I was diagnosed at 15, My father & grandmother had bipolar (which they believe can actually be a very mild form of schizophrenia when it’s at it’s worst level). It is hereditary and some people never develop it at all, some do.

In my teenage years I found myself self-medicating with alcohol and drugs (huge thing with mental illness) fortunately despite my bipolar I do not have an addictive personality and never got hooked or ended up in rehab. My first son SAVED my life. I was a train wreck before him and tho it was not easy I did the best I could by him, for him. I got medicated after he was born. it took a while to get the right drugs to work. but at 3 and 4 I would explain Mommy is sick sometimes and and I always love him and always want the best for him, even when I seem like I don’t care. That it is the sickness. like a cold in my head that will never go away but goes to sleep sometimes. and now at almost 9 I explain it differently but I tell him when I feel it coming on, I tell him what to expect, I remind him of how it can be. The key is communication. that is all. keep up with meds, get a set amount of sleep, talk to someone and always communicate with your family.

Having my 2nd son last Dec nearly sent me to a looney bin. I had postpartum that scared me, my meds were taking too long to kick back in and I was feeling so bad I had horrible dangerous thoughts. I told people. I communicated, I had support, meds doubled, help, and understanding despite how hard it was on my family. I am doing better, but we all have our days and this will never go away.

while it’s fine to get the “bad days” out at the time and complain and be down you can not dwell on it, you can not allow yourself to let the guilt about something you can never change eat you alive. You need to tell him how you feel. make amends, apologize and open the lines for questions or accusations or blame…so that you can move on. I worry everyday I passed this on to my children, but when you’ve waded through shit the long hard way…you’re better prepared to make that journey an easier less painful one for your kids through experience.

if you need anything at all email me. I swear. I have been through so much and to help anyone with this disease survive one day feeling understood makes my whole life.

be well.

Christina.

Needless to say, I did plenty of damage to him during his “formative” years that I am now seeing in him as an adult. Also, do you realize that they *think* there is a familial connection for bipolar? Nice to know that not only did I screw him up, but maybe I passed this nice little *gift* along to him.

If you truly are planning to have a child, think long and hard. Make sure you are in a stable place before you make that decision and make sure you have an extremely stable partner to help you raise that child.

It’s bad enough having to deal with the episodes. Just wait until the child gets older and the conflicts you experience can trigger an episode in you. Then you can be where I am right now. Wondering if you’ll ever be okay. Feeling so guilty that you “screwed him up”. Wishing it would all just end.

Sorry…but I sure wish I would have had someone talk straight to me before I had him. He was an unplanned pregnancy, but if I knew then what I know now…maybe I could have been a better mother…or maybe not…

You have to decide for yourself. Maybe there are other mothers that post here that have done just fine. But I felt the need to share my personal experience.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

I love all the pumpkins!