Brett Cooper

The second mother had pre and postpartum pregnancy complications, which she described as so stressful, I cried every day.

The third's body dysmorphia issues rendered her unable to leave the house.

Frankly, their stories are tragic.

They are also outliers.

And publishing their narratives when they are clearly drowning in darkness and through one of the most difficult phases of parenthood seems outright abusive.

Now, this author then continues and she says that she herself struggled with postpartum depression and anxiety and that she could not imagine what she, as a mother, what she would have written if she had been asked to contribute to that article during that specific period of her life.

What she would have said, what she would have wished for, what she would have maybe regretted.

She says, who knows what I would have said.

But now, with nearly 14 years of motherhood and five children under my belt, I find myself very much in line with a recent Institute for Family Studies polling that finds that married mothers are the happiest cohort of women.

I absolutely love being a mom, and I find that my family, apart from my faith, is my greatest source of meaning and purpose.

I'm so glad that I listened to the older mothers in my life who encouraged me through the difficult years, and I'm grateful to have avoided the toxic and antinatalist pitfalls that abound, which is what the cut is promoting.

And that is how she ends her rebuttal.

And I would agree with all of that.

I've done a myriad of episodes about how happiness is really derived from purpose and meaning and doing a hard thing is fulfilling.

Overcoming that is fulfilling and brings joy, which I think is why

being a parent and having a child and going through that hard thing is the epitome of joy and fulfillment.

But I would also say that something you could do to help mothers is giving them the tools to actually help them thrive and overcome and get through that.

Because in a postpartum fog with depression and anxiety and injury, again, the wound that is this big in your stomach, some women might not be able to see that yet.

And so if we want to encourage big, happy families and truly be a pro-natalist country, which I think Donald Trump wants, I think most people want, we have to be pro-mother and not just pro-baby.

And being pro-mother is a lot harder and requires a lot more work on our part.