Yet another story about how hard it is to be a new parent? Sheesh, what a racket!

And if I were a new parent, and freaking out, and worried that I couldn't cope and therefore a terrible person, I'd be glad to know I wasn't as crazy and abnormal as I thought.

On the other hand, I'm not going to have kids, and stories like this reinforce that I made the right decision.

You should try reading this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Operating-Instructions-Journal-Sons-First/dp/044990928X

I did as a new parent, and it made me feel a little less crazy. You get to take the thing home and keep it alive - and eventually your little wonder goes off to Kindergarten, college...

This is nothing.

I think this young woman needs to be checked for postpartum depression. Having a new baby is time-consuming, and it is tough when the baby cries all the time. But women have been having babies for thousands of years and survived it all. It will get better, but this woman needs help.

Ugh.

Yeah, lady, you should be on that train. Get a job and a nanny, and get on with dealing with real problems, instead of some sort of high-strung drama about bedspreads in dryers. "Thad" probably thinks less of you for making wet bedspreads into a fucking crisis, while he's at his real job, solving real, more meaningful problems.

Women like this will turn me into a female misogynist.

The baby books, the "Baby Story" shows, the baby magazines, the friends with babies... they don't prepare you for REAL parenthood. So many people assume bringing home your first child is a blissful soul-changing experience, but it's complete culture shock, akin to moving to a foreign country where you don't speak the language. Especially if you're a woman used to her independence. Used to finishing a task. Used to finishing a thought.

I suffered panic attacks the first three weeks of my newborn son's life. Like the author, I was certain we'd made a horrible, terrible mistake. I resented being on call every two hours, round the clock, to pump breast milk. I resented that my husband could leave the house and go to work and adult conversations but I only got to leave for one hour at a time to go to Target because I had to get back and pump.

I got over most of that, eventually.

There would be a lot fewer women with postpartum depression if mothers were honest about these feelings and experiences instead of, "It's the most wonderful thing in the world." New mothers are already petrified about screwing up and killing the kid... they don't need this propaganda making them feel worse about very natural and understandable feelings.

Your baby is two weeks old. You are being yanked all over the place by hormones--major, major hormones, comparable to premenstrual blues the way a ripple is comparable to a tsunami. Where is your mother, your best friend, your husband's best friend and his wife, your neighbors, etc? Call one of them, get them to come down and walk the baby while you do the laundry. You should not be trying to be alone and responsible for something besides the baby at this juncture. Frankly you should hardly be alone at all.

If you can't get hold of anybody, tell yourself, "Babies cry." They just do. She's a little gassy or whatever, god knows--and in six months you'll be great at knowing what the problem is, if it's not just whim. Right now you just need to endure. Imagine that you are a buddhist nun practicing a particularly difficult and advanced form of meditation: the Strolling the Screaming Baby While Waiting Desperately for the Laundry meditation. Inside these difficult abrasive periods of time, which can be short or long, but which always feel like torture, is the opportunity to let go, to breathe, to allow it just to be what it is. If you've done all you can and you still don't know how to soothe her, then don't try to soothe her. Just keep walking and meditating and enduring, until the world turns a little and everything is a little different. The bad stretches will pass, and return, and change, and pass, and return, and pass. So will the many, many good stretches.

You did not make a mistake having this baby. You are doing something that is mind-bogglingly difficult. It's amazing that we get through it as well as we do. But we do. And she'll be fine.

And it's okay to wear earplugs.

Yeah, Salon, that was pretty light.

I'm surprised at the number of parenting articles you publish that just don't grab me, even though I'm at the time in my life when my boyfriend and I are considering having children.

They start off so well, but then degrade into nothingness - it's a combination of the tone of the articles, the neuroses of the parents, or their complete lack of coping skills. It's the equivalent of watching bad reality TV - you just feel dirty afterwards.

This one makes them all look like Dr Spock on speed.

As the parent of a child born so early that he spent 5 months in the hospital yet still came home a sick screaming mess, I frankly think you should stop your whining and appreciate what you do have: a healthy baby with a good set of lungs. Even we, through all of our hell, said every day that "it could always be worse", and in your case I would say that emphatically.

you did make a horrible, terrible mistake by having this baby and you also made the most amazingly spiritual choice you will ever make - that's what it's like being a parent, the most awe-inspiring experiences mixed with the most awful challenges you will ever face

one thing to consider is that you might not want to stay home if you find your temperament can't handle the awful stuff as much and you can minimize it to evenings and weekends

second, say yes the next time your husband offers - having someone else makes it less awful - really

third, try carrying your baby in a carrier instead of a stroller, they really seem to get a good feeling from your heartbeat and your rhythm of movement

everyone feels this way with their first, maybe not as extreme, and most don't admit it, but you have taken on an enormous responsibility that will never end until you die and that would feel incredibly overwhelming

four, continue writing because sharing your experiences lets everyone else know it's okay to feel that way - it's our humanity - and you got to spend the time writing doing adult stuff which will be rare in this new mom time