[QUOTE=42Geek]
Lissa, it’s still very difficult to wrap your mind around that fact…that a person could be superfically sane, but underneath be as mad as a hatter.
I mean even in a lot of cases like that, people can still give off an odd “affect”…my mom says that I always give off a weird affect, even if on my meds.
[/QUOTE]
Sure, she was probably acting in an odd fashion, but just because someone’s acting a little strangely doesn’t mean they’re going to kill someone. You can testify to that. So, the people in her house may have thought she was being a little weird, but they never *dreamed *she would kill her baby.
I said in my first post that I knew two women who had suffered from post-partum. I told you about my aunt. Now, I’ll tell you about the other. I’ll call her “Judy.”
Judy had her baby two years ago. Her family reports she seemed a little blue, but otherwise seemed fine. She cared for the baby dilligently and was affectionate with her husband. One night, about two months after the baby was born, Judy’s husband woke up and found her standing over the crib with a pillow in her hands.
The whole family stepped in to help, taking shifts to stay with Judy and the baby. They got her counselling. After about a month, Judy seemed much better. She was no longer acting like she felt depressed and she was her “old self” again.
One day, while her mother had the shift, Judy expressed an intense craving for some cheeseburgers. Her mother figured it would be alright to leave Judy alone while she drove to McDonalds to buy some. Thank God she took the baby with her when she went. The moment the door shut behind her, Judy went into the bathroom and hanged herself. She had worked very hard to convince her family that she was normal so that she could get a chance to be alone.
Her family, of course, is consumed by guilt, blaming themselves for not being able to see what she was planning. But Judy was a smart woman. She knew how to hide what she was feeling. She didn’t want them to see.
China may have been the same way: inwardly tormented but hiding it from the people around her. Or maybe they just didn’t care enough to pay close attention. Who knows?