No One Warn Me This When Becoming a Mother | English Version

Preamble

No one ever really warn me that becoming a mother begins with surrender.

Not just surrendering your time.
Not just surrendering your sleep.
Not just surrendering your energy, your plans for the future, or most of the space inside your head.

But surrendering your body, too.

The body I had been taught to protect since I was a little girl. The body I had been taught to cover. The body I was told to guard, especially its most private parts. As a woman, I grew up with the understanding that my body was something I had to protect carefully. My private parts had to remain covered. I had to guard myself. I had to maintain boundaries.

Then I became pregnant.

And from that moment on, little by little, I learned that my body was no longer entirely my own.

My body became a place where another human being grew. It was examined, monitored, touched, measured, questioned, assessed, and checked over and over again to make sure the baby inside my womb was safe. I had to lie down and expose parts of myself I had spent my whole life protecting. I had to surrender my embarrassment, surrender my fear, and entrust myself to the medical professionals whose job was to make sure my baby and I made it through safely.