My mother, who had given birth to five children, once described childbirth like a train you get on. Once you’re on it, there is no getting off—you ride it until you reach the station.

Even though I’ve rethought the whole ‘giving birth to twelve kids’ thing, I still like the idea of raising a family.

I hope that at some point, someone has taken the time to thank you properly, not the simple sort of thank you we offer daily out of politeness, but the genuine, heartfelt kind you deserve.

There is pain in birthing. And there is pain in birthing cesarean that one who has not experienced it simply cannot understand.

You gave me a name I never had before: Mama. Everybody has a birth story, a narrative that reveals how their soul navigated itself into the world. This is yours.