Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Crybaby (or - Happy Hormones, where art thou?)

I'm pretty sure that around about now I should be benefiting from "happy hormones", and that this affect should last until soon after childbirth. But I haven't noticed any increase in cheeriness or laid-backness, which is unfortunate because I've never been that laid-back to start with and sure could do with some. My moods are, on the whole, about the same as always; I'm impatient, easily annoyed but can't hold a grudge, and am most grouchy when I'm stuck in a hot car or cruising the supermarkets with my mother.

On the other hand, I have noticed an increase in weepiness. Only yesterday I was watching Bargaining I and II from Season Six of Buffy - they're the episodes where Buffy's friends bring her back to life, not realising that they've taken her from Heaven. I wept like there was going to be a tear shortage or something.

It was worst in that scene where Dawn finds her newly-revived sister (who has just clawed her way out of her own grave) on top of the tower thing which evil shoe-loving goddess, Glory, built in the previous series - the place where Buffy sacrificed herself to save the world. Dawn's fear of losing her sister again and Buffy's returning memory of her last moments on Earth - ah, it was Tear City, Arizona.

If you know the episodes I'm talking about, then you might agree that they are pretty emotionally heavy scenes, which could make you cry even without a dose of pregnancy hormones. Okay - I also cried during Once More with Feeling, the musical episode.

14 comments:

Frally said...

It's different for everyone. I had the misfortune of having major happy hormones during both my pregnancies. I say misfortune, as it was such a let-down to be my normal, hormonal aggro self again after feeling ace for nine months. So, in a way you're lucky there's no disappointment!

LK said...

I never had happy hormones but I was quite laid out before the pregnancy so that carried on through. But the weepy thing is full on, and I'm sorry to say that I still get affected by it now, years after the children. i wonder if my hormones will ever straighten up.

Unknown said...

um, i've cried while watching a buffy episode. it was when ...wait a sec, you've seen the whole series, right? i really don't want to ruin any plot just in case...

i cried once while watching a documentary so violently that when my boyfriend found me, i was doing the sob-inhale snot-sob-mutter thing. man, make that twice... another doucmentary on this canadian lesbian couple surviving breast cancer had me crying long after the show was over....

if you ever want to exercise your tear ducts, watch the film 'the event', its a US/Canadian co-production with Don Mckellar, Olympia Dukakis, Sara Polley, etc. I could not leave the theatre for 15 minutes after the movie finished so i could regain my composure.

Happy and Blue 2 said...

Ha,ha. You cried at a Buffy show.
Sorry I was smitten with the thought..
I just hope that God doesn't smote me for being smitten, hee,hee..

flying kiwi said...

One of sisters cried during that scene at the end of Terminator II where Arnie (My Governer - I'm so proud) disappears into the molten lava or whatever it is (probably not lava, but that word seems to go with molten).

So crying during Buffy while pregnant isn't nearly as bad as that.

noizy said...

My wife use to cry at just about anything when she was pregnant with our kids. Watching the news (aka the death and destruction show) got so harrowing we had to give up on current affairs entirely.

gerbera said...

that is some really sad Buffy stuff. I can fully see crying being an option there. I missed a lot of Buffy (more of an Angel fan) But I saw the ones around her death and when they brought her back. Pretty full-on it was.

I almost cried in a season 1 angel I watched a few weeks back. Where Buffy comes back and he has to choose to turn back time after having such a wonderful day with her because .. (i forget entirely why I was more swept up in their happiness being lost ) .... something to do with him still having to keep saving the world?

Watson Woodworth said...

I saw "Rent" in mid January and cried like a little girl with a skinned knee.
In my defense it was "Rent".
As I recall, later that night was the last time I got really wasted.

Violet said...

Frally: there is that. Or else the happy hormones have kicked in and I didn't notice because I'ven been a total bitch up until now and everyone's too polite to say...

llcoffee:I suspect the weepiness is for the long term. A friend of mine who has three kids (the oldest is probably around 15) says that she has never gotten over the whole weepy thing.

hazel: I've seen 'em all, so go on and tell me which episode it was. The boy always makes gentle fun of me when he catches me crying at the movies, although I'm sure he secretly likes it.

happyandblue2: if God don't smote your for being smitten, I could come over and smack you for being a smarty ;-)

Flying Kiwi: Crying over Arnie in The Terminator is a bit extreme. Although that might be a good test of the state of my hormones.

James: I've been on the brink of tears during those news stories about the aftermath of the tsunami and the slaughter in the Congo. And I'm definitely staying away from obviously sad movies.

Gerbera: oh yes - I cried at that part too. Angel wanted to return to full vampire-strength so he could continue saving people instead of being a helpless human. I think whenever I see Buffy with wet eyes it can be just about guaranteed that I'll be needing some tissues.

Nigel: I don't know "Rent". Is it one of those sad tales of homelessness?

Amanda said...

Its perfectly normal to cry during sad Buffy episodes. Even if you are not pregnant!!

I'm gathering up some books for you as I type (well I will when I finish typing)

Onanymous said...

I cried my eyes out during the last episode of Angel and I was depressed for the rest of the day.

I think I get way to involved in the characters and stories - I even magage to cry in books!

Watson Woodworth said...

"Rent" is a modern urban adaptation of "La Boheme". Four of the eight leads have HIV, one dies and another is near death at the final song.
Yes, artsy singing squatters.

Anonymous said...

No happy hormones?!?? We need to go shopping some more, methinks!

Certainly I could be persuaded to help you watch Monty Python's "The Life Of Brian" on DVD - that always has me rolling on the floor laughing.

I remember bawling my eyes out as a kid watching "Dumbo" - the scene where his mum is in the cage and rocking Dumbo to sleep whilst singing a lullaby still makes me cry.

That and reading the end to "Charlotte's Web"...[sigh]

Violet said...

mtnw: Buffy episodes have always had the power to make me get teary, but not on this level. On the day I posted this it was so bad that when the boy got home he thought something really horrible had happened 'cos my eyes were still pink.

onanymous: I've cried over books too (while not pregnant) - one time was during a very sad ending of a horse story called The Wild Horse of Santander (when I was growing up); the other was during The Madness of a Seduced Woman (woman is courted, seduced, impregnated, left and nearly dies performing self-abortion).

nigel: I went to see La Boheme and, yes, I think I cried during the ending.

Desiree: shopping will not make me happy as such; it will only induce guilt (as my experience buying expensive dress boots last Friday shows). But thanks for the offer - and Life of Brian is very funny.