Before you ask a mom if she’s having another baby

 Before you ask a mom if she’s having another baby

remember there’s so much you can’t see

Maybe she’s still healing from the one she lost
Maybe she’s still waiting for the two lines that never come
Maybe her body has been through enough
and her heart just can’t do it again

Some moms are grieving babies they never got to meet
and the ones who were gone too soon
Some are sitting in waiting rooms holding onto hope
Some are quietly carrying the pain of infertility
of tests and treatments and dreams that keep slipping away

Others are still recovering from births that left their bodies aching
their hearts bruised
their spirits tired

We celebrate the bumps and the babies
but we don’t talk enough about the waiting
the loss
the silent strength

Motherhood looks different for everyone
Sometimes it starts with joy
sometimes with heartbreak
and sometimes it never starts at all

But every single one of those women is enough
Whether she’s raising a house full of kids
or loving the ones she never got to hold
she is still a mother

Always lead with gentleness
You never know what her story holds