«I always thought motherhood was sort of a weak state of being, but motherhood is a far more primal, active thing than that. It is probably the most violent experience a human can have aside from death itself. A child’s first act is violence against the woman who created it. Yet still, the mother loves the child with the most powerful love known in the universe. This thing rips its way out of us. Literally tears us in two, in a wash of blood, and shit, and piss, or it is cut from us with a knife. Our organs taken out only to be put back in and sewn up. So, no, motherhood is not sunshine and baby powder, little pastel mints and lacy frocks. Motherhood is fucking brutal.»