Feeling used and abused.

When is enough enough. This is quite a load so please bear with me.

I'm a hard worker. I have one baby and two step kids. I work full time, so does my partner. We both work to achieve what we want and pay the bills.

I've always given a lot of myself to everyone. But sometimes I feel people take the piss.

For instance, one person in my life I am having troubles getting rid of. Through her first pregnancy and when her child was a newborn I helped her both financially and emotionally. I bought things for her child that she couldn't, formula, toys, clothes etc. I literally spent 100's of dollars to help her. When I had my baby, she was nowhere to be found... And all my baby received was a cheap outfit from Kmart and seemed that very little thought was put into it.
There was even instances where her partner asked me to buy stuff for her and do stuff for her to "make her feel better".

I'm not a materialistic person.. Please don't think I am. And I give from the heart not expecting anything in return. But that really hurt that the same excitement and importance of me having my first child ( 7 year struggle mind you) was not to be found.

Then there are other things from other "friends" that really hurt too. Like being expected to change my babies first birthday party date to accomodate someone else's plans.

Text messages with 2 lines asking how we are then the rest of the 3 page text message talking about themselves and their child.

I just want to scream. I feel that I place importance on other people yet the same isn't returned in kind.

As I said, I'm not a materialistic person, I care a lot about the people in my life, sometimes I think I am just used for what I can give.

How do I stop myself from feeling so miserable about this? I suffer from post natal and I am recovering and receiving help from professionals but I just can't help think that I am the bottom of the food chain when it comes to the people in my life who are supposed to care.