So, we’re lucky enough to live in a time when people are starting to talk more about postpartum depression, and I think that’s great. Due to plenty of prenatal care, I knew going in that PPD was a thing that at least “some new mothers” experienced. Whether I personally was prepared, eeeenh , but that’s my own pre-baby ego sabotaging me again.

HOWEVER. PPD’s nasty little sister is PPA, or postpartum anxiety, and that was one I had NO IDEA about. Let me tell you, if you ever need someone to come up with the absolute worst case scenario for calamities that might befall mom and baby, I’m your woman. Walking through a mall? Rogue shooter, obviously. Waiting in line? Better have one hand on the stroller at all times, or someone will take her.

(Someone on Reddit mentioned they were sitting with their baby when a stray bullet came in through their window and lodged above their heads. That fsckery will keep you up for weeks. That was my NUMBER ONE irrational intrusive thought, and I live in Canada where guns are scarce to begin with.)

I mean, I am almost three years out, and I still caught myself the other week walking past a construction site and imagining what would happen if the structure suddenly gave way. Or a bomb went off in the grocery store we were passing. Or a car suddenly swerved onto the pavement. The thoughts aren’t intrusive any more, per se, so it’s some level of ‘new normal’, but yeesh.

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CALGARY! I’ll be at CCEE this weekend, at table BF4728 in the Big Four building – though I may switch at the last minute to be at table 722 in the main building. I’ll have zines and poster prints, as well as, fingers crossed, some of the large poster prints from the hundredth strip. If you’re convention folk, stop by and say hello!