I was thrust into motherhood believing my instinct would kick in. Instead, being a mom threw me into an earth-shattering identity crisis. 

He seemed to only have the strength to cry, and I couldn't even hold his hand. I thought my baby was going to die.

It was my teen years when I became acutely aware that I was, (a) overweight and, (b) didn’t fit the textbook definition of prettiness. 

Envy. It’s one of those emotions we chastise ourselves for. We push the feeling down, and tell ourselves it’s a negative way to think. But what if it's not?

I will be eternally grateful for my persistence and the good fortune that came my way. It could have been so much worse.

I never looked at it and I never ever touched it. I felt like my body would bust open and I would bleed out if I did.

If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, you probably want to put the joints and edibles away for a few years.