Gemma Hartley

Three weeks after my first child was born, in the haze of postpartum sleep deprivation, I found myself eating leftover fried chicken over the sink in a bathrobe, cradling my baby in one arm. I remember the midnight meal clearly, because it felt like…

Being raised alongside my brother, I experienced a lot of double standards. My curfews were earlier. My clothing restrictions were stricter. My access to privacy when hanging out with friends of the opposite gender was nonexistent. There was, in my…

One day, when my daughter was barely able to talk, she watched as I put away the dishes from the dishwasher. She pointed to a wine glass and said “Mama’s” then pointed to another one and said “Mama’s” again. It felt a little uncomfortable, knowing…

Before the start of the new year, I took Instagram off of my phone. It was the last of my social media apps to go, and while I expected a pang of regret or FOMO, all I felt was a sense of freedom. I have finally regained my private life, and as a…

When I decided to try to have a baby for the first time, I was all in. I was looking at nursery ideas before I had even ovulated. I was diligently reading through What To Expect When You’re Expecting the week before I could take a pregnancy test. I…

At 38 weeks pregnant, a switch automatically flips in my head, and I am officially done with pregnancy. This is the time I usually start Googling natural ways to induce labor. Once I hit full-term, each day after becomes torture. Between the…

I’ve never been a fan of American helicopter parenting, despite definitely being a helicopter parent myself at times. The anxiety isn’t healthy for me or for my stifled kids. I hate feeling like parenting is constantly stressing me out, instead of…

By the time I was pregnant with my third child, I felt like I had this pregnancy thing pretty well figured out. I knew the difference between Braxton Hicks contractions and the real deal. I knew that my labors progressed slowly, so I shouldn’t go in…

I’ll be the first to admit that my toddler is wildly and undeniably cute. I am constantly awed by how lovable he is, and the fact that he is my last baby makes him all the more precious to me. He’ll sometimes wake up in the morning and say, “Hey…

I was raised in a fairly strict household growing up. To be honest, I didn’t love it. In fact, I hated it. I often found myself grounded and was frustrated by rules that seemingly served no purpose. However, now that I’m a parent myself, I look back…

While most people say they are pro-breastfeeding (or at least won’t argue with the fact that mothers should be able to have the choice to breastfeed if they want to), not all of those people actually support breastfeeding. They only support it if…

When I neared the end of my third pregnancy, I started becoming desperate for a “natural” way to induce labor. Every time I went into the hospital for my check-ups, the nurses commented on how big I was — and how big my baby was going to be. With…

Before my husband and I had a baby, mental workload wasn’t something I thought about much. We both worked and went to school full-time. We both pitched in on cooking and cleaning. We grocery-shopped together (even though I was the one who made the…

When my son was born, I assumed I’d be instantly flooded with feelings of love like I’d never known before. I had spent the last nine months bonding with him every chance I got. I talked to him. I played with him as he rolled and kicked against my…

When I became pregnant with my first child, most people reacted to the news with a mixture of happiness and unsolicited advice. One joking piece of "advice" I often received from family and strangers was to enjoy my freedom while I could, because it…

After suffering two miscarriages while trying to have a third child, I had to pause and consider what it meant to move forward and try again. My midwife had mentioned that if I were to lose another child, I might need to see a fertility specialist.…

I was never an overly emotional person until I became a mother. I had been warned by older, wiser women that having a child would change my ways, and once I became pregnant, the bar for what made me emotional took a quick nosedive. The joke I often…

I haven’t always had the easiest time bonding with my son. He had a difficult birth, which was followed by my struggle with postpartum depression and anxiety, so I never quite felt like I could get the hang of parenting him. I'd often heard of…

The decision to wean my last baby was definitely not an easy one. I remember those first days of his life when he refused to latch, and I cried endlessly over the thought that I wouldn’t have the chance to breastfeed him at all. Then after we…