It’s About Time

December 12, 2015 By Kara Lawler

It’s about time….

It was after the New Year and frigid, snow falling steady from the sky. Her firstborn son was not even quite five-weeks-old and she worried about taking him out in the cold air and falling snow. She had been fired from her job working at a religious institution when she announced her unplanned and unwed pregnancy. Because of this setback, she accepted WIC and government healthcare until she got a new job and tried to get back on her feet. Embarrassed because she had to take government assistance and was a hard worker by nature, she did get a job at her local library prior to her son’s birth, but the pay and benefits were lousy. Nevertheless, she took the position because it was what was available, and of course, there was no paid leave for her maternity leave.

To the Almost Mom of Two

September 29, 2015 By Kara Lawler

Today, I met a mom at my local bookstore who was about to have her second baby; she was an almost mom of two. My son, a kindergartner, started school a few weeks ago, and so it’s just been my 1-year-old daughter and me making our way through our days together. We really went because I was craving a latte, but it’s also a nice place simply to sit, without feeling guilty, as there is a play area for my daughter to play in. When I arrived at the train table, two mothers were already there, their toddlers in tow. My daughter joined their children and the kids quickly began to play together.

We Became Mothers

July 9, 2015 By Kara Lawler

You. Me. Us. Them. We became mothers.

“Did you have them naturally?” she asked me when she heard that both of my babies were born at over nine pounds. I had my children vaginally, but I didn’t have them without medication. My body formed my children, grew my children, and birthed my children, and yet, I’m never sure how to answer this question. Are they asking me if I had them vaginally? By C-section? With medicine? Without medicine? Regardless, I became a mother.