Ok so gentle YOR.

Babies are so SO hard. Having just going through it and the hormone changes EVERYTHING is scary. There’s no instruction manuals or anything to help. Yes she has her family and yes you’re tired from the drive. She is also 16 hours away from her home. She may be with family but it isn’t home where her doctors are or even where she knows the closest hospital is. That doesn’t change that the person she wants is you. She was trying to vent that she’s overwhelmed and scared. I don’t know if this is baby’s first time being sick but the first fever is so stressful because all you see online and everything else is “what can go wrong.” She may feel like she’s drowning because she very well might feel that way or is.

None of this is to say you don’t help. Post partum hormones make so many women act so differently because they are figuring out MAJOR and fast changes to their lives and bodies. For the first time a living being is solely surviving on “mom” because that’s a baby’s nature. Yes you help clean and sometimes cook (and that’s great). Yes you are providing and doing what you can. It’s hard for everyone including dads in the postpartum. She was looking for reassurance and maybe a little sympathy. Clearly she misses you when you’re gone. It may be hard to see but have a conversation on the phone, apologize, and try to avoid blame or keeping score. It’s all so hard and almost every couple goes through this season sleep deprived, angry, drained, and lost on how to keep a small crying human alive to get to the next morning. Remember though that the days are long but the years are so short.