The American College of Pediatricians is challenging the forced consensus on transgender interventions for children — a long-overdue stand against procedures that cause immeasurable harm.
Read moreThe legacy of motherhood reaches far beyond the blink of our years here on earth — a truth Walt Chantry captured beautifully, and one that reminds me of my own mom.
Read moreBreastfeeding and postpartum mental health are deeply connected. When everything else went wrong after the birth of my first child, nursing proved an oasis.
Read moreThe first day of school reveals a brand-new stage where unseen possibilities begin to dance. Parenthood is about dual-states — a constant embracing and letting go.
Read moreA year after my dad's passing, I discovered old Army photos of a well-dressed dandy I barely recognized — and came to see the cool guy he was before parenthood shaped him into the alpha-male who built tank engines and made chicken soup.
Read moreThe FDA has approved the first-ever drug made specifically for postpartum depression — but at more than 0,000, it raises urgent questions about access and whether PPD will finally be recognized as the unique illness it is.
Read moreMy dad has been Dad and Mom for almost three decades. Nothing breeds empathy for your parents like becoming one yourself.
Read moreWhen Vogue magazine covers postpartum anxiety, it's progress. In a world frequently ashamed of mental illness, our words carry great weight — powerful enough to defuse the shame.
Read moreA complicated birth, dark intrusive thoughts, and the absence of my mom hurled me into a postpartum furnace — but like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, I was not alone in the fire.
Read moreLosing a baby is a tragedy that demands to be addressed. Grief is a lifelong process, but we have an amazing capacity for healing — to get stronger, rebuild, and help others along the way.
Read moreAfter I told my kids to hitch their wagons to a star, my 5-year-old grabbed a grown-up book on mindful writing and my 8-year-old reached for a tome on Ancient Rome. Maybe Emerson is sinking in.
Read moreExplaining death to my children after losing two friends reminded me that the unnatural severing of the human heart is our most accurate sensation — a sign we are not quite at home here.
Read moreWatching friends send their children to college stirs a grief I didn't expect — mourning not just my mother, but the tears she never got to cry for me.
Read moreI scheduled my preventative double mastectomy in September to give that dreaded month a chance to redeem herself. She didn't disappoint.
Read moreAfter one too many MRI biopsies, I decided I wasn't taking another lap around that monstrous circle of hell. Cancer or not, I was finding a way out.
Read moreMotherless mothering is its own wilderness. Without my mom's roadmap, I've had to define motherhood for myself — and teach my children about a grandmother they'll never know.
Read moreKara Tippetts dared to call breast cancer a 'great story' — and in doing so, she flew in the face of every fear I've harbored since my mom's death.
Read moreI knew the question was coming, but not this soon. At bedtime my 4-year-old asked where my mommy was — and gave me a glimpse into the profound depth of his little soul.
Read moreI don't want to have it all. I just want variety — and the wisdom to find happiness in that way station between too little and too much.
Read moreMy first-born's last day of preschool reminded me that the tiny years are fleeting — and that thanks to Noah, I'm going back to school too.
Read moreI induced labor for convenience and paid dearly for it. Childbirth isn't something you schedule into a tidy life-list — and my second, natural delivery proved how much better it can be.
Read moreHearing the story of a young mother dying from breast cancer stirred my deepest fear: that my motherless history could repeat itself, and my babies would navigate this world without me.
Read moreMy 4-year-old discovered how functional his pants are — and used them to smuggle a puppy's chew toys out of the pet store.
Read moreI was unqualified for motherhood — a motherless overachiever with more trust in her resume than in God. But he continually chooses the most unqualified to bear his glory.
Read moreOn what would have been my mom's 70th birthday, I reflect on heaven, cancer and the lost art of dying well — and how her final days were a quiet masterclass in all three.
Read moreGeneration X children of divorce carry a broken leading edge — spiritual stories shaped by loss. But God can take a generation's fractured faith and turn it into something glorious.
Read moreMy parents' divorce didn't just split a household — it snuffed out part of my existence. Thirty years later, I'm still untangling what it means to have your being divided between two worlds.
Read moreMotherhood has a way of magnifying every inadequacy. I'm learning to celebrate the gifts God gave me instead of drowning in guilt over the woman I'm not.
Read moreI'm seeking moms who endured difficult pregnancies, complicated births, or postpartum struggles to share their stories for a book proposal about surviving the brutal first days of motherhood.
Read moreMothering two young children has dulled my once-sharp mind and stalled my writing career. But chasing perfection is the real enemy — and God is bigger than the zombie zone of early motherhood.
Read moreMy mom nursed me until I was five — long before attachment parenting had a name. That fierce bond gave me an emotional reservoir I still draw from as a mother myself.
Read moreMy friend Annabelle found her own unconventional path — pumping exclusively and supplementing with formula — proving that the best feeding plan is the one that works for mom and baby.
Read moreA fellow journalist shares how a lactation consultant transformed her early struggles into nearly two years of nursing — and some of the most cherished moments of her life.
Read moreWhen my cousin Rachel switched to formula, a close friend warned her son would be fat, lazy, and sick. Years later, he's thriving — and the friendship still bears the scars.
Read moreBreastfeeding carries real economic and social costs, from lost earnings to public scorn. Moms deserve support — not judgment — no matter how they choose to feed their babies.
Read moreI finally learned the gender of the baby I lost between my two children — a girl. Naming her Lena Karen gave her a wholeness that grief alone could never provide.
Read moreOn my son's third birthday, I returned to the Chicago neighborhood where he was born and reflected on how motherhood dismantled my old life — and slowly built a new one.
Read moreA day of field reporting reminded me how much I love journalism — and revealed that the skills of chasing a story aren't so different from the work of raising children.
Read moreFrom 'Are you carrying twins?' to 'Your life will never be the same' — a catalog of the thoughtless remarks people lob at expectant mothers, and why they need to stop.
Read moreWe chase balance like a unicorn we'll never catch. What new mothers really need is rhythm — a grace-filled way of moving through each unbalanced season of life.
Read moreA hospital tour sent me spiraling back to my son's traumatic birth. As my daughter's arrival nears, I'm learning that the path requiring the most faith is exactly where God wants me.
Read moreThe final weeks of pregnancy are a slog of crushed lungs, swinging hormones, and relentless monotony — but inside the discomfort, a daughter is coming to life, and she is worth every ache.
Read moreA press secretary and mother of two young girls shares the daily struggle of being perpetually on call — at work and at home — and wishing for more time to simply enjoy her children.
Read moreAfter 13 years at home with four children, my cousin Laura has found that the biggest emotional hurdle of stay-at-home motherhood isn't identity — it's the strain on her marriage.
Read moreWhen my friend Laura left her high-powered law career to stay home, she lost the identity she'd spent years building — and discovered a richer, more expansive definition of herself.
Read moreA full-time teacher and mother of two reflects on the guilt that shadows every school event she misses — and how volunteering in her sons' classrooms is the only time she feels like a real mom.
Read moreA highly educated generation of mothers has more choices than ever — and more stress. The emerging wisdom: you can have it all, just not all at once.
Read moreThe identity shift from career woman to new mother felt like a door slamming shut on my old life. It took time — and faith — to discover that where I was didn't have to define who I am.
Read moreLosing my mother at 15 left a grief I carried into every milestone. Becoming a mother myself reopened the wound — and, unexpectedly, began to heal it.
Read moreSave the Children ranks Norway the best place to be a mother and the U.S. a dismal 31st — a wake-up call about maternal mortality, child health, and America's stingy maternity-leave policies.
Read moreInsensitive comments about weight, body changes, and bleak predictions nearly eclipsed the joy of my first pregnancy. Carrying life is a privilege — not an invitation for unsolicited negativity.
Read moreMotherhood dismantled my carefully managed to-do lists — and taught me that God's timing, not my own sense of control, is the safest place to land.
Read moreA traumatic birth, a failing thyroid, and a season of darkness led me back to writing — this time with a fire to honor God and the women who've done battle at the doorway of motherhood.
Read more