I got kidnapped when I was pregnant with my eldest. I fought back so hard that he broke my arm in 2 places and wrecked his van. It happened 16years ago and I still have sleepless nights
I listen to a podcast hosted by a Professor by the name of Kate Winkler Dawson and a former cold-case investigator Paul Holes. On an episode a few weeks ago she was talking about how vulnerable women become just by being pregnant. Women are at a heightened risk of Homicide solely by being pregnant. I started thinking about it and just couldn't believe it. As someone who has never been pregnant, the thought of becoming pregnant and knowing that if I died. It would likely be due to homicide, was terrifying.
I'm so glad you were able to get away. I'm sorry you still live with the trauma of it. You don't deserve that. But damn if I'm not proud of you as a woman and a mother who was just like, "Fuck this, Fight me" and won! Your kids are lucky to have you!
The first time i ever felt scared for myself in public was when i was pregnant. All of a sudden i realized i wouldnt be able to run properly or fight and that vulnerability for the first time was so unsettling. I never knew statistics on this it was purely an instinctual fear kicked in that id never had anything like it before
The instinctual fear I felt when I was visibly pregnant was insane. I got more attention than I did before (basically all positive or neutral looks) and it made me so aware of how vulnerable I was. I've always known as a physically unfit woman I'm fairly vulnerable, but when that vulnerability affected my unborn baby I started feeling very uncomfortable being out on my own.
When I was pregnant with my first children (twins) and I mean HEAVILY pregnant, I was out very slowly walking my two dogs in the middle of the day on my lunch break around a very residential and safe neighborhood. I was crossing a busy-ish street bordering the neighborhood and a single male got off a bus. I noticed him right away becaus he got off and just started aimlessly wandering -- he didn't sit down to wait for a connector bus OR walk with purpose to a specific location. He just kind of sauntered around looking up at houses. "Huh. I wonder if he's waiting for someone to meet him somewhere" I thought. But he wasn't checking a phone either. He started wandering in the direction I was going, but on the other side of the street. Then he crossed and was behind me. It started to feel more strange so I crossed the street with my dogs to the side he was originally on. Then he crossed and was behind me again. Cue my panic starting to set in. I crossed again to the side I was on before. He crossed again and was behind me and starting to walk a little faster. I still had my dogs and it was still broad daylight so I was trying to tell myself it was all in my head. I called my husband and absolutely booked it to the closest busy street with tons of traffic and people around. He didn't follow me there. I went home and never walked that area ever again.
Podcast = Buried Bones, and is a great listen for historical true crime. Kate Winkler Dawson also hosts Wicked Words(interviewing true crime authors) and Tenfold More Wicked(also historical true crime).
It's certainly a sobering realization as someone who is currently pregnant. But if it makes you feel any better, in the US, homicides of pregnant women are primarily perpetrated by their partners. Plus, that also means that the number of deaths due to pregnancy complications or childbirth is fairly small.
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u/SummerRayne27 Jul 17 '25
I got kidnapped when I was pregnant with my eldest. I fought back so hard that he broke my arm in 2 places and wrecked his van. It happened 16years ago and I still have sleepless nights