Whitney’s Journey: From Back-to-Back Miscarriages to Raising 3 Daughters
This week, in honor of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, we’re going to hear from my friend Whitney, who graciously shared her heart for this post. She experienced 2 miscarriages before birthing her 3 beautiful daughters, and I’m honored to be able to share her story with you. I think there’s a lot we […]
I Crashed A Dinner and Left with A New Theory about Motherhood
*Note: This post tells my perception of a recent experience. Because I have not obtained permission from the other individuals to use their names, I have changed names and intentionally obscured the location of this story.* Saying Yes When Fear Tells You to Say No I recently found myself in a peculiar position over dinner. […]
It Takes a Village, and I Want My Son’s to Be Italian
The saying–it takes a village to raise a child–is beyond cliche, but if there’s anything new parenthood teaches you, it’s that it speaks truth. Or, if it doesn’t, it’s likely because there’s no village available. To the parents who raise children without that village: I applaud you, I salute you, and I have no idea […]
Reclaiming the Word “Crazy”
Let me be very clear about something: I don’t use the word “crazy” loosely. In fact, in writing, I don’t use any word loosely. During daily conversation, my filter and self-awareness aren’t quite where they should be. But when I write, every word is intentional. And I’ve made a decision. To reclaim some agency over […]
Childbed Fever: The Epidemic Victorians Ignored
If women were dying in mass numbers in hospitals compared to home births–15 childbed hospital deaths for every 2 at home–wouldn’t you expect national, even international, outcry try to figure out why? I damn sure would. But that didn’t happen in Victorian England. Or anywhere else during the nineteenth century where the same phenomenon occurred […]
Where to Give Birth Used to be a Life-or-Death Choice
Even With Medicine Where It Is Today, Childbirth is Risky Business I talked last week about maternal mortality in childbirth, a trend that is disturbingly on the rise in the United States, especially among rural women and women of color. To learn more, check out my last post (linked in the sentence above), and the […]
My Guardian Angel Mama
In this final installment of my introductory series, you’ll read the story of the person who made me aware, though she never used the words, of the absolute need for motherhood to be undefined. It’s an exceptional, heartbreaking, momentous story. She was my guardian angel mama in disguise. It’s a story I can’t do justice […]
It’s Not Drinking Alone if Your Baby is Asleep Upstairs
For the sake of full disclosure, this post was never meant to be Part 3. But as I sat in bed one scary night in April, past my bedtime, cabernet in hand, anxious mama thoughts racing, I realized this needed to be said. Let me tell you a story. The Basic, Rational Facts It’s April. […]