First comes love, then comes marriage, then come the parents with the baby carriage. Or not.

My journey to parenthood was, by most accounts, fairly typical, relatively easy, and nothing to write home about (although to be fair, I did write a sermon about it).  On the whole, it didn’t take us very long to get pregnant. My birth experience makes for a comical story with a happy ending, even if it didn’t feel like it at the time. We have three loving grandparents who live within an hour of us, and an ever-expanding community – all of whom offer support regularly.

Even in the aftermath of a miscarriage, I knew that my experience was tame compared to what others have gone through in their quest to become parents. I remember the shock that I felt as I read through the messages of support as person after person shared stories of miscarriages – stories that they said they hadn’t shared with me before. I remember wondering, how did I not know? How did they keep this to themselves?

Boston Moms Blog Journey to ParentingWhy do we let societal norms block us from honoring the courageous journey people have taken on their way to parenthood? 

Instead of keeping our stories to ourselves, let’s talk about it.

Let’s talk about loss. Let’s talk about infertility. Let’s talk about being a single parent – by choice or by circumstance. Let’s talk about cancer diagnoses, postpartum depression, IVF, PIGD, premies, genetic disorders, LGBT parenting, divorce, biracial & interfaith families, crazy birth stories, adoption, surrogacy, and anything else that made your journey to parenthood different from what you were expecting.

Got a story to tell? We’d love to hear it. Email me at [email protected] with your story, 300-600 words in length (please include AT LEAST one picture). We’ll publish the best of the bunch, and together we’ll laugh, cry, share, support, and honor one another.