Every society values its own skill sets for its own reasons. The problem in America is that, while we excel at raising spectacularly verbal kids, we have lost sight of other values that we need to foster in our children.

Whatever kind of mom you are or mother you had, chances are, you've been affected by the love and encouragement of a special "mom" in your life.

When I was diagnosed and first trying to make sense of it, what I wanted most was to talk with another woman who had been through it and come out the other side, someone who could reassure me with full confidence that it wouldn't be a permanent condition.

No one ever tells you that the first six months of motherhood ain't that hot. Mothering a newborn is epic. Life-changing, poetic, falling-in-love, completely enamored, EPIC. But as wonderful as your sweet baby is, YOU my friend, are about to experience some EPIC changes of your own.

You may remember Cecelia Behar-Bush from "The Oprah Show" -- she's the woman who announced her pregnancy to her husband at our big bash in Sydney. Cecelia thought it would be fun for me, as an eldermom, to pass along my words of wisdom to new moms.

Written by Kristen Witucki for Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers I stood in front of the changing table wearing just my underpants a...

I know what you're thinking. We were together every night for a week and then I disappeared. How could I just break it off like I did? The long and short of it is that you all got me through a really awful transition in my life. To be blunt, I used you. Let me explain.

Maybe I shouldn't blame her. After a woman has a baby, she is broken down, hazed and then rebuilt in the form of a mother. We were all thin-skinned, sometimes sanctimonious and desperately insecure.

Before my daughter was born, I knew exactly how things were going to go. I would never be the parent that held her baby all the time; I would never be the parent that gave her baby store-bought baby food; I would never be the parent that picked up a pacifier after it fell on the ground.

After a relatively easy pregnancy, my confidence was high as to how easy motherhood would be. I had read the books and had been a teacher for six years. As far I was concerned, there was nothing I couldn't handle. I was ready, I was prepared, I was well read, I was... wrong.

The word that keeps me grounded as I raise my three children.

Motherhood is a beautiful, wonderful gift... except when it's not.

No matter how many books you read or classes you take, nothing can prepare you for motherhood. Now that I am a mom, I never judge parents with screaming children because usually, my daughter was the one throwing the temper tantrum earlier that day

I'm all for exercising to online workouts in the living room while babies play or nap, but the lure of the screen as a pacifier for new parents, as well as for new babies, is dangerously seductive.

Will we ever move on from our obsession with "post-baby bodies"? Elizabeth Banks certainly hopes so. The actress' remark that she's "really a mom" ...

In 2012, breastfeeding entered mainstream American dialogue as either a polarizing or a unifying topic for a wide variety of mothers, parents, employers and public officials across the country.

I left my body swollen with childbirth, with milk, with life. I left eyes so tired that they felt like they had sand in them. Most of all, I left behind my certainty. My certainty that I knew what I was doing, that my path was assured, that I was safe.

I think how hard new motherhood is depends a lot on how hard you believe new motherhood will be.

My daughter turns 10 this week. I'm swimming in a sea of memories of this week ten whole years ago, a week that commenced a season that changed everything for me.

The truth is, you need very little to raise a child, and most of these products marketed to parents are useless at best, no matter how much they make you want them.

It's hard because I want to say that we can do it all and have it all, but time is finite, energy is finite. So some things, some of the time, have to give.

You've got the brains and resources to do whatever you need to do to be an exemplary working mom. Still, balancing it all will be a day-to-day dance that you--like all working moms -- are trying to figure out as you go.

It should be a priority for all who work with pregnant folks and new parents to try to get their tone right as often as possible. To slow down, remember that that new dad holding his baby is far more likely to be riddled with insecurity and self-doubt than he is to actually drop the baby.

Here's are 10 last-minute details that you'll want to check off your list before going into labor.