Other parents gave me an awkwardly sympathetic smile before quietly wiping the warm breast milk from their children’s faces. ‘Well, that’s something they don’t tell you in the rule book,’ I thought.
Early in pregnancy, I’d swotted up on all the latest motherhood manuals and followed the ‘mumfluencers’ on social media obsessively. But, by the time Isabelle was about three months old, it was pretty flippin’ clear to me that no mother’s journey was the same – and mine certainly wasn’t the scene of calm and serenity portrayed on Instagram as the ‘norm’.
Looking at snaps of sickeningly glowing parents with flashy smiles, immaculate nurseries and neatly folded stretch suits, I thought, ‘Where’s the depiction of the reality?’ I surely wasn’t the only mum with super-soaking boobs, wearing sick-stained clothes and being screamed at for hours?
I’d always wanted kids and, after meeting my Danny at just 15, we grew up together and often talked about our future and starting a family. But it wasn’t until October 2018, after fertility treatment, that I fell pregnant.
This story is from the January 19, 2021 edition of WOMAN'S OWN.
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This story is from the January 19, 2021 edition of WOMAN'S OWN.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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