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new motherhood

Poetry | Flowers in odd numbers

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If my mother is not here, who will show up to bring me flowers when I am vacuumed out,
cells gone, clean, neat, dark, unseeded? By Emily Franklin

November 13, 2019 Family

Letting go of the baby things we don’t need

Cartoon coloured picture of a woman pushing a red jogging stroller
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They all took turns as babies, then toddlers, riding in the stroller’s deep reclining seat, casually enjoying Cheerios or clutching a favorite toy as I bounced behind. By Cara McDonough

November 12, 2019 Family

How my two very different playgroups saved me

Smiling toddler sitting on floor holding red balloon
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The truth is I dreaded my Friday playgroup as much as I craved it. I stood apart from the other mothers in ways I couldn’t quite communicate or change. By Laura G. Owens

November 6, 2019 Family, Obstacles

How my baby changed the way I look in the mirror

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My eyes focus on my abdomen, the bulge pregnancy has left behind. My inner critic opens her mouth…but then I take in the whole picture. By Chrissie Dunham

September 12, 2019 Family

After the baby, a marriage lost then found

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We would take a million pictures of our child but none of us. Forget to schedule date nights because we never needed them before. By Elizabeth Newdom

September 5, 2019 Family, Obstacles

What does it mean to be a “real” mother?

Black and white image of baby deer looking at straight on
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My daughter collapses after an endless tantrum and says, I wish I wasn’t adopted. By Tanya Friedman

May 30, 2019 Family, Obstacles

How to make a birthday cake for a one-year-old

Pretty unicorn birthday cake with pink background
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When you blow out the candle for her, be prepared: it will feel like blowing away her first year, your first year of motherhood. By Kaitlin Barker Davis

February 20, 2019 Family

I had a miscarriage. This is my story.

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If my belly was round and full of baby, would I hate my body less? This body that betrayed me. By Brittany Wren

December 3, 2018 Obstacles

21 hard things about motherhood my son might never know

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When he was two, I spent mornings stuffing tubes of penne with scrambled eggs to trick him into eating something other than pasta. By Marianna Marlowe

November 29, 2018 Obstacles

Yes, parenting is hard. But it gets better.

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One day infants and diaper bags and hemorrhoids and boobs won’t be hanging off of your person like you’re a cross between a human mobile and a Sherpa. By Catherine Newman

October 24, 2018 Family, Persistence

Perspective | Why I don’t want to know the sex of my baby

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The decision not to find out my unborn child’s sex is perhaps the most intimate and important one I have ever made. By Laine Munir

August 30, 2018 Culture, Family

When you can only handle one child—and that’s okay

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How could I do it all again? The uncomfortable pregnancy, the brutal birth, the dark newborn days. By Joy Netanya

July 30, 2018 Obstacles

Why Serena Williams matters, now more than ever

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Serena has arguably done as much for working moms in the past year as she’s done for tennis in the past decade. By Mary Pflum Peterson

July 12, 2018 Culture, Persistence

The very last bath of childhood

two little boys covered in bath-time bubbles
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I can’t imagine a time without children in my house, just as one month ago I could not imagine an evening without bath time. By Kelli Kirk

April 18, 2018 Family

The split mind of postpartum depression

mother holds baby close to chest
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In a quiet, distant voice I tell my husband that I want to die. Not exactly dead, I clarify, but not this. By Laura G. Owens

April 10, 2018 Obstacles

Why I opted out of mommy speak

silhouette of mother counseling young boy
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I’ve never used expressions like potty, criss-cross applesauce, boo-boo and its sad cousin owie. They make me feel like an imposter. By Rosemary Harp

March 22, 2018 Family

Why are we so fixated on the weight of our babies?

infant being weighed in a basket
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Do people really believe a baby’s size is a reliable precursor of his future happiness, intelligence, or even physical prowess? By Kelsey Osgood

February 8, 2018 Family, Obstacles

I want a second baby, but my husband doesn’t

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He can’t reconcile where we’d find the time, money and energy. I feel like we’d figure it out, the way we did with the first. By Abigail Rasminsky

November 30, 2017 Obstacles

How my fear of flying changed with motherhood

filtered photograph of young girl throwing paper airplane into sky
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It was so much easier to ignore my own pounding heart amidst the turbulence when I was worrying about my son’s instead. By Lauren Apfel

November 20, 2017 Family, Obstacles

Choosing to have children, choosing not to

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Motherhood has become so consuming to me that I find it hard not to project onto others a desire for the sense of purpose it offers.
By Lauren Apfel

August 31, 2017 Family, Obstacles

Why I no longer distract my kids when we travel

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By stuffing my backpack with toys and dolls, I realized I was trying to control my children’s adventure.
By Andrea Hannah

August 17, 2017 Family

The myth of the instant family

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I love my baby, but I miss my relationship with my husband terribly.
By Abigail Rasminsky

August 1, 2017 Family, Obstacles

The first photo of my premature baby

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Photographs suggested a future, a future in which we would look back at this moment, but a future where our baby might be gone.
By Yvonne Spence

November 22, 2016 Family, Obstacles

How to wean your three-year-old with a cupcake

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I couldn’t let my child have carte blanche access to my body for as long as she saw fit, the way I had originally thought I would.
By Doña Bumgarner

September 20, 2016 Family, Obstacles

There’s the birth, and there’s the baby

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Any guilt or reservation about a “failed” birth plan was replaced by an unwavering commitment to my son.
By Stephanie Noll

August 8, 2016 Family

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