[*kyle*]

Ever since having a baby, I am so much more sensitive to news stories, especially those about children. I'll click onto one news story from Yahoo or MSN, and before I know it I'm reading one sickening thing after another. Like, a baby was hit by a stray bullet in Chicago so I go read that... and at the bottom of that story there will be 3 or 4 "suggestions" for other headlines that are similar... so I'll go on to read about some cases of child abuse and terrible accidents until I end up crying. It is so hard to stop though. It drives me crazy thinking of all the babies out there who are helpless against the stupidity and cruelty of their own caregivers. I don't watch the TV news but I never have because of the sensationalism that has always irritated me. Now though, there are a couple of children I've read about being killed from child abuse that I just can't get out of my head. How do you shut off this stream of horror while still knowing it is all going on in the world?

[*krista*]

I don't watch the news either, it is depressing! I am more emotional when it comes to just about anything involving babies or children now that I have Charlotte. I was watching a sitcom the other day and cried when a couple on it found out they were having a girl! I don't know.. things just take on a new meaning after you have a baby, or at least for me they did. I was never emotional about things before.

I suppose you just have to read things selectively.

[~*Bethy*~]

Yup - same here. Its your mommy instinct kicking in! I dont watch the news, nor do I care to watch it, but friends will say "Oh did you hear about that 3yr old boy who _____??" And I just say I dont wanna know

[Mjp121212]

I can't stand to hear about it either, my dad was the same way. How do i cope with it? I think of them as angels and believe they are in a better place.

[Adriana's Mommy]

I'm a news addict.. I like to keep up on what's happening in the world..

I do get really sad when it comes to child abuse and innocent children getting killed.. The worst story I've heard about is baby Brianna.. Her story will always be on my mind..

[Babybear4]

I am way more sensitive to all news, really. I do get extremely emotional about things involving children, but even tonight reading a story about a 20 something year old woman who was killed in a car accident while vacationing in my town, I just feel sick. Like, what if that were me? What is I wasn't here to raise my daughter? What if it was me and Lorena was in the car with me? What if Lorena died in a car accident and I lived? It's really difficult for me to read stories about any type of death because it just gets my mind going in 10 thousand directions. Life just becomes so much more valuable when you have children you need to live for, and when you need your children to live for you, KWIM?

[Frozendesire]

I am ALOT more emotional after having the boys. It also got "worse" the more kids I had. I cry way more easily.

I was watching Star Trek and I BAWLED at the beginning, and I NEVER cried in movies before, Ever. It's so weird.

All the news clips/stories and horrible events happening just seem SO much closer to home when you have a child. It's so hard to explain.

You just have to hug and cuddle the baby/ies you have and do the very best you can at being their mom. Put your focus on that instead of what is happening else where. It's tough.

[Mars]

It's so awful. I'm always been an advocate against any form of abuse but especially where children are involved. I do find that my feelings have skyrocketed since becoming pregnant that sometimes I actually feel my heart hurt or feel a sense of pain when I head about an incident. I try really hard not to read or listen to the stories. The last I heard was a guy who beat a 2yr old to death over the World Cup. That just makes me cringe. I just don't know how people can be so cruel.

[*kyle*]

Stephenie - it is funny you mention Star Trek, because I too BAWLED during that beginning part. I couldn't believe how much it affected me because - #1 they are not even real people and #2 - I am not much of a sci fi fan to begin with.

The Ethan Stacey case has been haunting me, but there seem to be new stories that come and go every week that are exactly like it. I can't stand to think that somewhere a little baby or child is helpless and suffering right now. I work in a field that helps victims of abuse later on in life (as teenagers) but it's the tiny little kids that get me right now. It might change as Dominic grows older. Not much consolation that it gets more intense with more kids. If I ever have another I will have to go through all of this again??

[~*Bethy*~]

it doesnt take a sci-fi fan to cry at the beginning of that movie

you wont go through it again, per-say, but you may or may not be more sensitive after having another baby.

[greeneyes]

I know exactly what you're talking about and it's a terrible, gut-wrenching feeling. Not long after we moved to San Antonio a mother there did something absolutely unspeakable to her newborn. I'm crying as I write this thinking about it, the image of that baby still haunts me.

When it comes to children I'm a complete bleeding heart.

[**Jenn**]

I'm the same way. Those stories always affected me, even before getting pregnant/having kids but it's just 10 fold now. I was never much of a news watcher but I can't hear about these unspeakable things happening to babies and children without feeling like I'm going to vomit. I automatically put my own child in that circumstance and I can't imagine the pain.

When my cousin had her baby a couple weeks ago and he was in the NICU, we went to visit him in there. There was a baby in the corner under the bili lights who kept crying off and on and no one ever went over to her. I almost started crying right there. Here was this new, helpless little baby and no one to be with her (the Mother visited often but you can't be there 24/7). Even when my cousin's baby would start crying, we weren't allowed to pick him up and it broke my heart.

But those awful news stories, some will always stay with me. I just have to reason that if these are the kind of people this child would have had to endure a lifetime with I'm glad God took them sooner rather than later...