Quotes About Parenthood

I always knew I wanted to have children of my own. I met my husband Daniel when I was 23; we were married when I was pregnant with my first child, Ossian. We've had our ups and downs like every couple, especially when we were younger.

My position in the family turned out to be a lucky one; I bore neither the brunt of my mother's newness to parenthood nor the force of her middle-aged traumas, as my younger sister, Ruth, did.

I'm the youngest of six children; both of my sisters are housewives and they each have four kids.

Someone told me that having a baby is like having your heart walking around outside of your body, and I didn't understand it until I had a baby. Now, like, everything he does literally crushes my heart. In a great way. And then if he's in pain, it's like my whole endeavor is to make sure he's not in pain.

Part of being a mother - part of the comedy of it, anyway - is what happens to your body.

They say, once you have a child, your heart is forever outside your body. I totally understand that now.

After having a baby, there will inevitably be something on your body - a mark, a scar or some loose skin - that wasn't there before.

The moment you have children, it's like your heart gets out of your body, puts on clothes, and walks away.

From your first kid, your body still kind of looks the same once you get back in shape.

If you go to prison, your child support adds up.

You don't know what love is until you meet your child.

I think you basically have to abandon the dreams of having any other adult activities in your life. You have to go to sleep whenever your child goes to sleep.

There is nothing like seeing the man you love with your child.

It changes everything, absolutely everything. The love you feel for your child transforms everything. Now you have someone helpless and tiny that depends on you and only you. You look at him and know that your world is focused on him, on that part of you.

There's one person that you would give up your life for, and that's your child.

The stigma of being an unmarried mother was something we can't comprehend today. It was not uncommon that you'd go off somewhere to have your child, then give it up for adoption.

What's beautiful about the journey of surrogacy is that relationship you build with your surrogate, when it's done in places with good law. These aren't women you stop speaking to once your child is born, this is someone who's part of your family.

I had a different impression of motherhood. I was told it'll be tough but I realised that eventually it is what you make of it. When you see the love your child gives, giving up a few things doesn't feel like any sacrifice.

You think you have the most amazing life by having your dreams come true as a musician and marrying the woman of your dreams. But then you add a lil' baby girl... to the mix, and it's like you've never really lived and loved until she was here.

Just because you have a baby on your hip - or one on the way or two at home - doesn't mean you can't go after your dreams.

I think there's this standard in our society that when we become a mother, we just become a mother, and that's all you are. That's an amazing thing, but I think you're doing your child a disservice by not following your dreams either. I work really hard to make sure that I'm chasing all the things I always dreamed of.

Children did not come into this world because of you. They came through you. Be grateful to them. They are the proof of your life. Do not thrust your dreams on them. Find out what their wishes are.

There is nothing more thrilling in this world, I think, than having a child that is yours, and yet is mysteriously a stranger.

It's not like I want to hop on a bandwagon, because I said it 15 years ago - bringing a child into your life who is not genetically yours is one of the most beautiful things you can do. But I'm also interested in having my own baby, too.