Granny heard screams. Looking down, she was shocked. Don’t let anyone tell you what you’re doing is wrong. Don’t put pressure to yourself to be the perfect mother your baby already thinks you are. They all get colds, infections, eczema and whatnot. And it’s not your fault. And definitely it’s very unlikely that this is due to the feeding method that you chose. Don’t ask for advice from a lot of people. Pick one person you trust and listen to them.
Everyone has their own opinion on how to do things. Everyone will judge you on what you do. The most important thing is the trust bond that forms between you and the child. That doesn’t mean that you have to be there every time the child needs or cries. But they do need to know that when they need you, someone is there. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it. This story is considering hard lesson for all moms Cecilia Arnold had a difficult childhood.
Her father Doggy loved her dearly, but her mother, Rosa, seemed to have no time for her only daughter. It was only many years later that we saw the lasting effects that Rosa had on Cecilia well into her adult years.
Cecilia loved dogs and cats and would often bring home strays. Doggy loved that his daughter was so caring, but Rosa said the animals made a mess, so it always makes Cecilia turn back them onto the street. She was a good student who had many friends, though some of her friends would later say that Cecilia seemed to be off in her own world sometimes.
The family lived in a small town outside of Texas, and it was in this town that Cecilia met Roger when she was 16 years old. Roger was two years older than Cecilia, but the two became friends quickly and then began dating after Cecilia turned 17. Doggie recalled that Cecilia seemed to glow after she spent time with Roger Unsurprisingly. Her mother didn’t approve, but Cecilia was at that age that she didn’t need her mother’s approval.
She loved Roger, and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Her plan was on track after Roger proposed Cecilia about three years after they first started dating. Yeah, they were young, but both of them believe they were soulmates. So when Cecilia was 20 years old and Roger was 22, the couple got married.
Igor attended the small, intimate ceremony. Rosa did not. The first few years of Roger and Cecilia’s marriage was pleasant. The newlywed seldom argued, and they enjoyed the modest lifestyle that their jobs afforded them. Roger worked as a mechanic and Cecilia at a local farm, but there was something that wasn’t going their way. Starting a family.
Cecilia knew she wanted children and wanted to prove to herself that she could be a better mother than Rosa had been to her. That being said, there was always a little voice in the back of her head that whispered to her that she wasn’t supposed to be a mother. Cecilia did her best to ignore this voice and brushed it off as nerves. Over the years, the stresses of not being able to start a family waited on Roger and Cecilia.
The two bickered often, and Cecilia’s life wasn’t turning out to be the fairy tale she had expected until a miracle happened. Cecilia fell pregnant. The couple was ecstatic. They couldn’t believe, after all these years, that they had finally been able to have the family they dreamed of starting. Unfortunately, Cecilia got incredibly sick during her pregnancy. Her morning sickness was awful and she battled to keep anything down.
In fact, she was diagnosed with something that makes women get sick in pregnancy. This is when the doubts started to creep into Cecilia’s mind. What she meant to be a mother was this a sign that bad things were to come again? She tried to push these thoughts away, and then a bombshell was dropped. A scam. Not only was Cecilia pregnant, she was pregnant with three healthy babies. Roger was so happy with this news. He felt that having three joys brought into their life would make up for lost time. Cecilia, on the other hand, felt very overwhelmed.
The thought of having a baby to care for worried her, and the worry didn’t ease as she progressed in her pregnancy. Cecilia tried her best to keep this from Roger, but secretly she was spiraling. She began having doubts in her ability as a mother, having had such a poor example herself, and the day arrived, Cecilia gave birth to three beautiful children, two boys and a little girl. Roger recalled that the boys had his features, while the little girl was the spinning image of her mother. Caring for her babies was as much work as Cecilia thought it was going to be.
She was also struggling with intense feelings of sadness after she gave birth, and she battled to connect with any of her children. She kept this secret, though, as she was too ashamed to let anyone else know. Roger could see that his wife was having a hard time, but he thought she was just tired like he was. Little did he know.
As the days went on, Cecilia fell deeper and deeper into a depressed state. Looking at her story, we can see that Cecilia likely had postpartum depression at the time, though, and where she lived. This was a foreign concept to any doctors. It also didn’t help that Cecilia was so quiet about her feelings. Three months went by and things were fine on the outside, that is, Roger still didn’t see how sad Cecilia was becoming, and Cecilia still kept her lack of connection quiet.
Then the perfect storm hit. Roger needed to leave the home for four days as he had to attend a workshop. He asked Cecilia if he needed to hire a nanny for her to help care for the children, but Cecilia insisted that she would be fine internally. She was hoping that this time, alone with her babies would help her bond with them.
Cecilia was so very wrong, and on the early Saturday morning, little did Roger know that he wouldn’t see his children again. That is, Cecilia’s first day with the children were fine. He didn’t fuss too much, and she fell under the control with everything. Day two, however, didn’t go as smoothly. Jim was sick and wouldn’t stop crying. Cecilia tried to calm Jim, but he couldn’t keep anything down. Cecilia’s stress levels were rising dangerously high.
At that point. We don’t know exactly what happened over the next two days. Cecilia later claimed that she didn’t remember, but we’ll never really know whether that was true or not. What we do know is what happened on the evening of the third day. Cecilia placed Jim into a large basket and set out in the woods. We do know that Cecilia began digging. She dug until she had her baby perfectly rectangular hole. Yes, you heard that right hole.
It’s hard to know what Cecilia was thinking at that point, but experts later believed she was suffering from a complete break from reality. Cecilia wasn’t a bad person. She did do a very bad thing, though. She placed her baby into the hole.
Jim was wrapped in a blue blanket. She then proceeded to cover the baby in dirt. Cecilia then walked away with the sounds of crying echoing through the forest. The following night, Roger arrived home. He found his wife curled up in a corner, staring at the wall. She wouldn’t speak and simply rocked back and forth. What’s wrong, my love? Where are the babies? Roger asked. Cecilia said nothing. Roger proceeded to race through the house, looking everywhere for his babies.
They were nowhere to be found. He spent hours trying to talk to Cecilia, but nothing. Her eyes were glazed over and she seemed to be all off on her own. Roger could tell that Cecilia hadn’t showered for four days, so he placed his wife in a bath, hoping the warm water would soothe her. At this point, he was freaking out. Roger then wrapped Cecilia up and placed her in their bed.
He then called Igor. Doggy rushed over, and he, too, tried to speak to Cecilia. She wouldn’t speak a word to him either. Remember, this all happened in a small town. So after two more days of this and no answers as to what on Earth was going on, Doggy and Roger decided to make the trip to the hospital with Cecilia and also reported the children missing.
Cecilia stay in the hospital didn’t help much. She still wouldn’t speak, and the police were entirely unhelpful. In fact, they didn’t believe Roger’s story at all. They said Cecilia was crazy, and maybe he was crazy, too. Roger was at a complete loss. He had missing children and a wife that wouldn’t speak a word to him. This went on for weeks until he couldn’t take it anymore.
Cecilia, he screamed. Do you know where my children are? Why won’t you tell me? His wife, who is now a shell of her former self, said nothing. Still, that night, Roger packed his bags and left. He couldn’t do this anymore. Without saying goodbye, he disappeared into the night. A broken man. After she was all alone, Cecilia decided to go and check the site of her baby.
She hiked up to the spot where she had laid him, which wasn’t too hard to find as she’d been replaying that walk in her head every day since she’d done it. But when she arrived, the site made Cecilia vomit. The child’s Hull was empty. They were gone. It didn’t look like an animal had gotten them. It looked to her like they’d crawled their way out.
