Episode 5
The Reality of Motherhood: Insights on Matrescence and Mental Health
Elizabeth shares her transformative journey from a private practice counselor to a dedicated motherhood coach, emphasizing the importance of addressing mental health struggles in motherhood. She candidly recounts her own challenges with hyperemesis gravidarum during pregnancy and the severe postpartum depression and anxiety that followed, highlighting how these experiences fueled her passion to support other mothers facing similar issues. Elizabeth advocates for breaking the societal pressures surrounding motherhood and stresses the need for open conversations about the difficulties many mothers encounter. She discusses the concept of matrescence, the profound changes that occur during the transition into motherhood, and the importance of building a supportive community. Throughout the conversation, Elizabeth inspires listeners to seek help, acknowledge their vulnerabilities, and prioritize their mental well-being in their motherhood journey.
Elizabeth's transformation from a private practice counselor to a motherhood coach exemplifies a journey marked by resilience, vulnerability, and the power of community. Her candid recounting of pregnancy challenges, particularly hyperemesis gravidarum, sets the stage for a deeper exploration of maternal mental health. As she navigates the tumultuous waters of postpartum depression and anxiety, Elizabeth sheds light on the often unspoken struggles that many mothers face. This episode reveals the critical importance of acknowledging mental health challenges and the necessity of seeking help, not just for oneself but for the collective well-being of all mothers.
The discussion also touches on societal expectations and the pressures that accompany motherhood. Elizabeth advocates for breaking the silence surrounding these issues, emphasizing that the taboo nature of maternal mental health discussions can lead to feelings of isolation and shame. With a focus on fostering community, she encourages mothers to support one another, creating a safe space for open dialogue about the realities of motherhood. Elizabeth's insights challenge the conventional narrative of motherhood, urging a redefinition that embraces vulnerability as a strength rather than a flaw.
Central to her message is the concept of matrescence, which Elizabeth articulates as a vital framework for understanding the profound changes mothers undergo during this life transition. She highlights how recognizing and normalizing these experiences can empower mothers to navigate the emotional complexities of their journeys. By integrating principles of positive psychology into her coaching practice, Elizabeth aims to equip mothers with the tools they need to cultivate resilience and foster mental well-being. Her passionate advocacy for maternal mental health serves as a reminder that every mother's journey is unique, and by sharing their stories, women can find strength and solidarity in their shared experiences.
Takeaways:
- Elizabeth's journey into motherhood was marked by serious challenges, including hyperemesis gravidarum and postpartum depression.
- Acknowledging mental health struggles is crucial for new mothers and can lead to recovery.
- Elizabeth emphasizes the importance of building a supportive community for mothers during postpartum.
- The societal pressures on mothers often prevent them from seeking help for their struggles.
- Matrescence is a vital concept that highlights the transformation mothers undergo after childbirth.
- Positive psychology techniques, such as gratitude journaling, can significantly aid in mental wellness for moms.
Transcript
So if you don't mind, if you could introduce yourself and give your backstory for our listeners.
Elizabeth:Yeah, of course.
Elizabeth:Hi, I'm Elizabeth.
Elizabeth:I'm a motherhood coach, but before I became that, that's rewiring the story a little bit, because I had been running a private practice in coaching and counseling for a couple years, and then my husband and I got married.
Elizabeth:We were very happy.
Elizabeth:Very t shirt, but great.
Elizabeth:And when we actually got married, we decided, oh, there's just so much love inside this little family of ours that we really wanted to have more going on, I think.
Elizabeth:So we decided, okay, let's try for a little baby.
Elizabeth:And that was such a warm, fuzzy feeling inside the both of us.
Elizabeth:And I did all the figures.
Elizabeth:My prenatals, my folic acid.
Elizabeth:I, like, tweaked my diet a little bit.
Elizabeth:I, like, I was prepared, and I was research on how to get pregnant.
Elizabeth:And so I did that apparently quite well, because on my second.
Elizabeth:On our second month, we got pregnant.
Elizabeth:That unfortunately ended in a very early miscarriage, which was something I was quite.
Elizabeth:I don't know, sober about, because I knew that could happen.
Elizabeth:But then by the third try, the third month, I was pregnant, and.
Elizabeth:And we were, like, through the roof.
Elizabeth:Like, the line was so clear.
Elizabeth:I was like, yes, this is gonna be it.
Elizabeth:So, all very happy.
Elizabeth:And we had a plan for afterwards.
Elizabeth:Toward the end of the birth, I was gonna take it a bit easy, and then my maternity leave, and I was gonna be at home for about a year with our kiddo.
Elizabeth:But then week five of my pregnancy hits, and I think for those who are already moms know that week five is very early.
Elizabeth:I got diagnosed with HG, which is hyperemesis, called vidatium.
Elizabeth:I'm probably butchering the name, but it's basically means that it's the.
Elizabeth:It's a pregnancy disease, a morning sickness.
Elizabeth:You all know that.
Elizabeth:Your morning sickness, right?
Elizabeth:But basically, I was extremely nauseous for nine whole months, which ended up being, like, the worst time of my life because I was just stuck to the bed and literally could not get up.
Elizabeth:I lost 20 pounds in the first trimester.
Elizabeth:It was rough.
Elizabeth:Even water would make me nauseous.
Elizabeth:It was horrible.
Elizabeth:And, yeah, I can see her expression.
Elizabeth:It was not like it was horrible.
Elizabeth:And it was basically, I'm stuck in the worst hangover of my life for nine straight months, and I wasn't able to sleep.
Elizabeth:I wasn't able to do anything.
Elizabeth:Like, you can watch tv or read a book.
Elizabeth:And as a mental health specialist, I already knew, okay, this is not gonna do wonders for my make for health.
Elizabeth:So I did already feel myself a bit sliding.
Elizabeth:I was like, okay, this deadline gets through it.
Elizabeth:And eventually I was induced at 41 weeks and five days because I was like, getting baby out of me.
Elizabeth:I can't do it anymore.
Elizabeth:And then I do have to tell you, the birth was by far the easiest part of a whole pregnancy.
Elizabeth:So I guess that's sickling something.
Elizabeth:And I was like, oh, yes, they can finally get back to being me.
Elizabeth:And.
Elizabeth:Cause I lost my whole identity, right?
Elizabeth:I was only the sick pregnant person in bed.
Elizabeth:And then when I was, my daughter was about eight weeks old.
Elizabeth:I mean, I was okay.
Elizabeth:I was newborn.
Elizabeth:Tiredness had been kicking in and all those things.
Elizabeth:That was not great, but I was doing much, much better than my pregnancy.
Elizabeth:But then when my daughter was eight weeks old, my period returned, even though I was exclusively best breastfeeding.
Elizabeth:So I had not expected it for another couple months at least.
Elizabeth:And all the hormones and all the sleep deprivation and everything, that what came flushing back with that menstrual cycle was just.
Elizabeth:It spiraled me into being okay to completely suicidal in one afternoon.
Elizabeth:And that was pretty rough, if I may say so myself.
Elizabeth:I knew what was happening as a cherry.
Elizabeth:On top of this pregnancy, I got a horrible postpartum depression and a horrible postpartum anxiety.
Elizabeth:And it was.
Elizabeth:It felt like the end of the world for me.
Elizabeth:Yeah, that was my not so fun backstory.
Elizabeth:But fast forward to now.
Elizabeth:My daughter's two and a half years old.
Elizabeth:I am thriving.
Elizabeth:I'm doing great.
Elizabeth:I got a lot of help, a lot of therapy.
Elizabeth:I had a great support system.
Elizabeth:And eventually I actually also went on medication.
Elizabeth:And all those things combined really helped save me, I would say.
Elizabeth:But I remember vividly during, towards a little bit, towards the end, I was like, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
Elizabeth:And I told myself, Elizabeth, if you, not if.
Elizabeth:When you get through this, you're going to make sure that no other mom ever has to go through what you went through without supports, of, without help, without acknowledgement, without resources.
Elizabeth:So that I've been talking for way too long.
Elizabeth:But that's mainly why I'm here.
Elizabeth:That's why I started Ells corner.
Elizabeth:I changed my direction of my private practice, and I went full on helping educate pregnant moms who think they might be susceptible to PPD and PPA to help them prep and put, like, things in place to make sure that they had fallback system.
Elizabeth:I had helped a lot of postpartum moms, mainly, who the moms were googling in the middle of the night.
Elizabeth:Does it get better?
Elizabeth:Will I ever sleep again?
Elizabeth:Why do I feel this way?
Elizabeth:And then I also have quite a few moms that I help, that I have kids with that are pre, pre k.
Elizabeth:I think, like, still at home who are.
Elizabeth:Who thought the same as I did.
Elizabeth:Like, happy to have a baby.
Elizabeth:We have so much love in this family.
Elizabeth:But somewhere along the way, they got lost in their motherhood journey, and they're not having that much fun again.
Elizabeth:So I help them reclaim their motherhood journey, and that's what I do, and that's who I am, and that's why I'm here.
Host:I can't imagine in one afternoon suddenly feeling suicidal, especially if that feeling is new or if that level of that feeling is new.
Host:Did it feel like an emergency?
Elizabeth:It felt just like I just wanted everything to stop.
Elizabeth:I just wanted to.
Elizabeth:I wanted to catch my breath and get off of this rollercoaster of negativity and horribleness that I felt I was on.
Elizabeth:And I felt that the only way to do that was to die.
Host:In our first episode, I was speaking with Bianca Sprague, and one of the main things she was talking about was how suicide is the leading cause of deaths among new mothers.
Host:That if we but mothers are so afraid to talk about that or to mention that, because at least in America, it's such a taboo topic, I think.
Host:But that if we're able to speak about it, then it's so much more likely that we can get better.
Elizabeth:Now you take the power away a bit, right?
Elizabeth:I am always incredibly open about who I am and what I went through.
Elizabeth:And very early, when people ask me what I do, I throw that little bomb that I wanted to tell myself that I just didn't want to live anymore.
Elizabeth:I usually pretty early on in a conversation, just drop that.
Elizabeth:And my reasoning for that is because at least already one mom hears that and gets help because I say that.
Elizabeth:Worth it.
Elizabeth:But I do have to say that literally every single person I talk to or I speak to about this, whether they're my age, genders, or even, like, boomers, like our parents, they all say either, oh, I've been through that myself, or they've been through that with someone very.
Elizabeth:In a very close circle.
Elizabeth:It's this.
Elizabeth:It's weirdly that this is this universal thing and no one is talking about it.
Elizabeth:And there's such a big taboo because, yes, women are afraid and ashamed of.
Host:It, and it seems like there are consequences or potential consequences or fear of being seen as a bad mother.
Host:I feel like there's such a need to keep up a front.
Elizabeth:There's this classical view, right, of the depressed housewife who drowns her baby in the bathtub.
Elizabeth:That is just only obviously doesn't go like that.
Elizabeth:But there's only a very small amount of women who actually experience postpartum depression or postpartum anxiety that actually have those feelings.
Elizabeth:And it's so much broader.
Elizabeth:The spectrum is so much bigger.
Elizabeth:So it's not just that.
Elizabeth:And often when I hear my clients in my practice, they're like, yeah, I don't really want help, or I didn't really feel like I need help because I'm as bad as others, and I don't have it as bad.
Host:That's interesting.
Host:What do you think that's about?
Elizabeth:I think that about women are very powerful.
Elizabeth:Let me start by saying that right where I am all the way, teen women, because we're great.
Elizabeth:We're awesome.
Elizabeth:Like, we're doing all the things right, but we have to be strong.
Elizabeth:And also, in our.
Elizabeth:We, I think over the past few decades, we've tried to be very masculine.
Elizabeth:We've tried to really adopt a very masculine energy.
Elizabeth:If you feel comfortable being like that, that is completely fine.
Elizabeth:But I feel that there should still be a lot of space for one's femininity and the durability that's in there.
Elizabeth:And if we don't do that, we, a lot of women think, okay, yes, I'm crying every single night.
Elizabeth:I'm not getting any sleep.
Elizabeth:But I have to be strong.
Elizabeth:And it's.
Elizabeth:I don't have it as bad as this other woman that I heard about who jumped off a bridge, because I'm nowhere like that.
Elizabeth:I'm much stronger.
Elizabeth:I have to be strong for my family, for my kids.
Elizabeth:In believing that way, we perpetuate that feeling that we have to stay strong.
Elizabeth:And also, you can still admit your vulnerabilities and that you're not doing well while still staying strong.
Host:I feel like what you are saying is the same as the pressure to be, like, super mom, like, perfect, momentous, like, who cook meals for everybody all day long and goes to every school event and has a career also and is never laid.
Elizabeth:And it's also because if you look at today's social media landscape, right, as a mom, as a woman, I think maybe even as a man nowadays, you're never doing anything right.
Elizabeth:You're breastfeeding.
Elizabeth:Oh, okay.
Elizabeth:But you shouldn't hate on the people who bottle feed you?
Elizabeth:Bottle feed your kids.
Elizabeth:Oh, no, you shouldn't do that, because breastfeeding is best for your kid.
Elizabeth:Oh, you're letting your kid play with that toy.
Elizabeth:Oh, she'd never do that.
Elizabeth:Oh, you're letting your brain like, there's never.
Elizabeth:You can never win.
Elizabeth:And so you have to stay strong and put up this front.
Elizabeth:And I don't think that's benefiting anyone in the long run.
Elizabeth:And I always say, and it's such a simple thing, right?
Elizabeth:But I always say to my claudio, and you are the best mom for your kids.
Elizabeth:There is no one who is a better mom for your kids than you are.
Elizabeth:And you, your intuition, your feelings are always going to be the right thing for you and your family.
Elizabeth:So do what you feel feels right for your family, but don't do it because you feel like you have to.
Elizabeth:Right.
Elizabeth:And that is such a core thing.
Elizabeth:But a lot of people seem to be forgetting nowadays, and I just.
Elizabeth:It's a shame.
Elizabeth:Yeah.
Host:It's like there's imposter syndrome in being a mother.
Host:Yeah, that's the one place where you shouldn't feel imposter syndrome.
Elizabeth:No, no, exactly.
Elizabeth:I try to make it a board to never judge any mom.
Elizabeth:Okay?
Elizabeth:If I see a pregnant woman drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes, then I'm a little bit judgy.
Elizabeth:But every mom should just be able to do what.
Elizabeth:You don't know what's going on behind closed doors.
Elizabeth:You don't know what kind of night she's had.
Elizabeth:You don't know what kind of day she's had.
Elizabeth:Like, you have no place in judging anybody there.
Elizabeth:So if the next time you see a mom in the grocery store with her kid and the kid is screaming, crying on the top of her lungs, instead of saying, well, I never screamed that way.
Elizabeth:Or making a judgment about that, saying, hey, can I help you?
Elizabeth:Do you need anything?
Elizabeth:You want me to hold your baby for a little bit?
Elizabeth:Or in what way can I support you to make the world a little bit of a better place?
Host:So what was the.
Host:The process?
Host:What was the first step that you.
Elizabeth:Took to getting better, you mean?
Elizabeth:I remember husband, he had to go on a business trip, and he felt really bad about leaving me with a newborn behind.
Elizabeth:My parents were very close, still very close with me.
Elizabeth:And my mom came over basically the whole time to just be with me and the little newborn.
Elizabeth:And I remember standing over the crib with her and looking at my baby and telling her all these things about what kind of character I thought my kid had what kind of, like, temperament, how I wanted her to be taken care of and how to dress her, how to bathe her and all those things.
Elizabeth:And I remember vividly thinking at one point, like realizing almost like a light bulb went on, I was like, in any of these scenarios I'm talking about now to my mom, I'm not there.
Elizabeth:I do not see myself in this picture.
Elizabeth:And then I was like, okay, shit.
Elizabeth:It is really not supposed to feel this way.
Elizabeth:Get this thing away from you.
Elizabeth:Acknowledge that you have a problem.
Elizabeth:And then I looked at my mom crying, and I said, it's not supposed to feel this way.
Elizabeth:This is not good.
Elizabeth:And she looked at me and she said, no, honey, I don't think so.
Elizabeth:And then I said, mommy, I think I need help.
Elizabeth:So there's a 28 year old woman there, second to her, mommy.
Elizabeth:Yeah, mommy, I need help.
Elizabeth:And that was the first step, acknowledging it out loud and then going to the right places to get that help with the support of my family and my husband.
Elizabeth:In the beginning, a lot of people told me when I was just reaching out for help, all the healthcare professionals, they were like, oh, you're so brave.
Elizabeth:I'm so happy that you're so strong to ask for help.
Elizabeth:And I was like, I felt so weird and ashamed for that.
Elizabeth:It felt so uncomfortable.
Elizabeth:Now, an x amount of years afterwards, I am proud of myself.
Elizabeth:I am proud that I took that step.
Elizabeth:And I am.
Elizabeth:I don't feel awkward or uncomfortable saying it out loud.
Elizabeth:And that also goes to show that we, as women, we can achieve so much and we can recover from so much.
Elizabeth:Right?
Host:That I like that.
Elizabeth:That's incredible.
Host:That's true.
Host:We overcome a lot.
Elizabeth:And it's okay.
Elizabeth:You don't always have to hold your head up proud and smile your way through things.
Elizabeth:But sometimes I saw this, I think on Pinterest, I saw this beautiful drawing about a lady walking up a mountain and then looking backwards in the text that said, something like, today takes some time to tell your previous.
Elizabeth:You look at how far we've come.
Elizabeth:Look at how far we made it.
Elizabeth:Look at that goal that you set out for us.
Elizabeth:We're here.
Host:It's easy to take that for granted.
Host:Oh, I already accomplished that.
Host:It doesn't matter anymore.
Host:And that's so doing yourself a disservice in my practice.
Elizabeth:Whenever I'm helping moms, forever bitten as a bit, I had a bit of a fluke or not, but I always.
Elizabeth:We do a lot of positive psychology, and there are so many methods and ways to really reprogram your brain.
Elizabeth:Right.
Elizabeth:Because we have a lot of anxiety or panic.
Elizabeth:There's a lot of space in your brain taken off by that feeling.
Elizabeth:But if we sort of bombard the brain with the other type.
Elizabeth:Right.
Elizabeth:So things like those positive emotions.
Elizabeth:So you've probably heard about a gratitude journal and affirmations, things like that.
Elizabeth:They always feel a little bit silly, but they actually are scientifically proven to help.
Elizabeth:So instead of the space in your brain that goes towards the negativity, the panic and the anxiety, we just overflooded with other warm, fuzzy feelings.
Elizabeth:And then at some point, you start to feel tipping towards being better.
Elizabeth:And that is a really powerful tool that we can use to help moms.
Elizabeth:Yeah, obviously.
Elizabeth:Anyone.
Elizabeth:But in my line of work, we use it for wrong, to make them feel good.
Elizabeth:Like the dessert.
Host:Yes.
Host:And that's possible for anyone.
Host:But what's so interesting is that new moms, actually, I've just read this book called gonna butcher this, but I think it's matresin.
Elizabeth:Matresin?
Elizabeth:Oh, yeah.
Elizabeth:That is lion.
Elizabeth:My session's gonna do it, mom.
Elizabeth:It's like the first thing I teach them, and there's this wonderful Ted talk, right?
Elizabeth:It's about six.
Elizabeth:She should watch it.
Elizabeth:It's amazing.
Elizabeth:Matresen's is, like, this beautiful term that makes every monk feel so validated.
Elizabeth:Right?
Host:It changed everything for me.
Elizabeth:Yes.
Host:And I was like, why didn't I know about this?
Host:Why don't.
Host:Why isn't this, like, part of the school education?
Elizabeth:Right?
Elizabeth:Because we're taught about puberty, men o'clock being the elderly, but matrescence.
Elizabeth:Oh, like, not a light bulb, but, like, the whole room lit up.
Elizabeth:When I first saw that video a couple of years ago.
Host:I have to watch the TEd talk.
Elizabeth:I haven't the reason I always show that to my clients, because I've read all the research and I've done my work on it, but I can never explain it.
Elizabeth:As well as the author of that term.
Elizabeth:She's not really the author of the term, but the author of that TED talk.
Elizabeth:She explains it in, I think, six or seven minutes.
Elizabeth:So.
Elizabeth:Well, there's.
Elizabeth:I could not do a better job than that.
Elizabeth:It is amazing.
Elizabeth:Lucy Jones is the author of the book, but doctor Alexandra Sachs.
Elizabeth:Okay, if you're hearing this and you're a mom or becoming a man, watch the TED talk by Alexandra Sacks.
Host:We're gonna.
Host:This gave me so much validation because it talks about how all of the changes that happen scientifically in your brain and in your body when you become a mother and how your brain, like, your sense of identity, expands to include your child.
Host:So it's not just you anymore.
Host:That's why your child is like, your guts and your soul.
Host:Because, like, whether that's what your brain.
Elizabeth:And men don't have, this, right?
Elizabeth:Because we carry our children, our DNA are so entangled with them.
Elizabeth:It's crazy.
Elizabeth:And I think.
Elizabeth:I.
Elizabeth:I'm not 100% sure, don't quote me on this, but I think a research recently proved that there was DNA from the kid in the mom's brain, like, years after birth.
Host:That is so beautiful.
Host:Yeah.
Elizabeth:And to not get locked in the mundane of it.
Elizabeth:Yes, you're washing binkies.
Elizabeth:Yes, you're washing underwear.
Elizabeth:But at the same time, remember, you carried this baby.
Elizabeth:You carried this child.
Elizabeth:And that is such an accomplishment.
Elizabeth:And that's meant to undo the love that foster parents and adoptive parents have.
Elizabeth:Because I also firmly believe that is a very strong connection.
Elizabeth:But yeah, the research on that that I read, it's crazy.
Host:And actually, Don Friedman and some, a woman that I interviewed recently, he has an adopted daughter.
Host:And we were talking about this, and she was saying, the way I look at it is that her birth mother is her noun, mother, and I'm her verb, mother.
Host:Isn't that beautiful?
Host:Yeah, I mother her.
Host:That's something that biological mothers have to do, too.
Host:The act of mothering.
Elizabeth:Almost impossible to put it into words, right.
Elizabeth:Cause there's so many aspects of it.
Elizabeth:But I think what we're trying to explain and trying to convey, everyone who's gonna be listening to this podcast episode will understand what we mean by that.
Host:It's something that's done every day.
Host:It's every day.
Host:I don't know.
Host:I don't know if you ever get to a point where you can coast.
Host:I just don't know how bad it does.
Elizabeth:I remember from our interview, because you published my interview, and I remember there was one question in there you asked, who would you want to meet in the world, right?
Elizabeth:Who would you want to have dinner with?
Elizabeth:And I think I wrote down something like, I would like to meet the mom who thinks she really, truly, firmly believed that she has everything under control and a good feeling about it.
Elizabeth:I don't know if she exists.
Host:Yeah, I'd like to meet that mom.
Host:Because it does feel like something that every day, I always heard that in marriage or in a relationship, that you.
Host:Every day you have to choose your partner and choose really.
Host:And that way you're never taking them for granted.
Host:And you're never.
Host:But that's definitely how I feel with mothering every day.
Host:It's a job.
Host:It's a thing.
Host:Get up and do it, and it's okay.
Elizabeth:Some days are harder than others.
Elizabeth:Some days are great.
Elizabeth:And you're like, yes, I rock this day.
Elizabeth:This was good.
Elizabeth:And some days are like, oh, this was a rough one.
Elizabeth:This was.
Elizabeth:And then, and then they go to sleep, and you look at them in their tiny little beds and their tiny little, like, relaxed faces when they're asleep, and they do hell all day.
Elizabeth:Yeah, look at them, and they're peaceful, and you just want to cuddle them.
Elizabeth:And such conflicting feelings because during the day, if you're having one of these rough days, you're like, oh, go to sleep.
Elizabeth:I want to be meta.
Elizabeth:And then when there were snakes, you just want to, like, crawl in there with them.
Elizabeth:And they're just oppression with their, like, soft little skin and stuff.
Elizabeth:It's a dichotomy, let's put it.
Host:And like you said, you have both feelings at once.
Host:Thank you so much.
Host:Just thank you for obviously being so honest about your story and your experience and for all of the help that you give to expecting mothers and new mothers.
Elizabeth:I love it.
Elizabeth:I love my job.
Elizabeth:I love helping moms.
Elizabeth:And, yeah, that's.
Elizabeth:I just, it feels good to do that.
Elizabeth:It is nice.
Elizabeth:And I feel that also.
Elizabeth:I can really understand where moms are coming from when they're struggling.
Host:And you have an instinct and you can recognize something, even if it's, like, small or, like, nuanced, you can recognize it and you can know what to do because you've lived it, right?
Elizabeth:In the end, I do say I am only the guide a little bit, right?
Elizabeth:These moms who, they get better themselves, they.
Elizabeth:They do all the work, right?
Elizabeth:So let's not put too much on need.
Elizabeth:Give.
Elizabeth:Moms are so strong, and they do it every single day.
