There is a mother somewhere, whose grown child lives on the other side of the world,she holds them in her heart because of the distance between their arms.There is a mother somewhere, whose baby won't stop crying, they want to be held, fed to sleep, they need her so much and all she wants is a moment alone.There is a mother somewhere, whose child may never say the word "mama," she's faced unimaginable challenges, and dreams of that sound often.There is a mother somewhere, who has heard the word "mummy," on repeat, she's touched out, it's all so loud,and she's desperate for a moment of silence.There is a mother somewhere, awake, tiptoeing out the door of the nursery, her tears not long dried, she dreams of sleep, she adores her baby but still thinks back to those carefree days sometimes.There is a mother somewhere, awake, who hears tiptoeing down the hallway because her teenager got in late, she loves watching them grow, but she thinks back to the days they were little and would climb into her bed for cuddles instead.There is a mother somewhere, her house is full of noise and mess, lived in and loved.There is a mother somewhere, her house is clean and silent, and memories hang on the walls.There is a mother somewhere, telling her grandchildren about what their parents were like when they were little.There is a mother somewhere, asking her own mother, what was it like?It's heartachingly beautiful, and sometimes, a beautiful heartache.If she tells you this is incredible, the best thingshe's ever done, believe her.If she tells you this is hard, the hardest thing she's ever done, believe her.It's heartachingly beautiful, and sometimes, a beautiful heartache.Jessica Urlichs, They Bloom Because of YouWhere I BeginYou made me a motherand so much moreI became a homeand you opened that door.My heart took a leapleft my body anewa wholesome hollowwhen we became two.You took your first breathas I held my ownthe world stood stillas you started to roam.I've been out of my mindand I've been in my headlike a hallway of framesfilled with you instead.And no song sounds as sweetnor the ocean, nor birds,as the hum in my memoryof your first words.See, I can't explainthis weakness and strengthwhere you beginand where I end.My voice became loudera whisper turned roarit's hard to imaginemy life before.Because I'd give you the worldbut my heart will have to dofor they're one and the samenow it lives in you.When a Mother Falls in LovePeople will try to tell you about that first moment.When you fall in love.And you'll nod, you'll sit there in awe trying to make sense of a feeling that could never be put into words.Because how do you explain about knowing love but not like this, how it runs through your veins. How with each inhale you'll consume it forever from this moment forward. That your new home is wherever they are, and theirs is simply you.How do you explain this pain with a purpose, the one that pulls every ounce of strength from your body. Strength you never knew you had, strength that waited for you.How do you explain wanting the world to know about this perfect little person you're staring down at, andin the same breath, wanting to protect them from it. That you've never felt so fierce and so vulnerable, that yourarms have never felt so important.How do you explain that those months of growing them, would be the beginning of them growing you. How you can be born again, still you and someone new.How do you explain how it feels as if you've known them forever. How they find your eyes like it's all they've been searching for.How do you explain how time will stand still, but never still enough to catch it.How your legs will wobble in this new role and yet you'll never stand so tall, and how heartbeats have their own language.That this love has a sense of melancholy, you'll feel everything, it's so big it hurts. It's peaceful and it's terrifying.A journey where your destination travels alongside you.A detached piece of yourself that makes you feel whole.A color before the bloom.A type of magic handmade just for us.Maybe that's why no words could ever do it just.How do you explain how time will stand still, but never still enough to catch it.Jessica Urlichs, They Bloom Because of YouI'll Hold Your HandThere will always be days where the world feels toughSo let me remind you, that you are enough.There will always be lows, there will always be highsSo hold my hand, and together we'll fly.There will always be troubles, but tomorrow is newSo hold my hand, and let me show you.There will always be darkness, but the sun will still riseSo hold my hand, let your glow be your light.There will always be sadness, but there's love on the shoreLet it wash over you, hold my hand a bit more.For each crack in the earth, a star shines aboveFor each heart that breaks, someone's falling in love.And for every beginning, there'll be someone you missYou can hold my hand through it, I'm so glad you exist.There's pain and there's beauty, there's joy and there's fearAnd in each given moment, I'm so happy you're here.So, when it seems heavy and it's harder to standYou can lean on me instead, I'll hold your hand.In each given moment, I'm so happy you're here.Jessica Urlichs, They Bloom Because of YouTo My MidwifeI don't know how to thank youFor all that you have doneThe way that you move heaven and earthA hero who's unsung.The power you have witnessedHow you reminded meThe strength I had withinThe beauty that you see.And all those months you listenedMeasured, soothed, and caredThe texts and calls you tookThe way that you were there.It takes someone so specialTo do all that you doTo hold each birth close to your heartAnd all the heartbreaks too.And though I felt so vulnerableIn those moments of love and painYou told me I was strongAgain, and again, and again.You guided a life into this worldAnd then you guided anotherIn all the weeks thereafterAs I became a mother.And each time I would softenAs you walked through my doorIt feels a little strangeThat I won't see you anymore.So, I just want to thank youFor this huge part of my lifeI'll always remember that dayAnd I'll always remember my midwife.Neither You, Nor IMama, we haven't done this before,Neither you, nor I.We both feel very small,and these arms don't feel like mine.It's very hard to focusAnd everything is newBut I hear a voice as you pull me inAnd my heart knows it is you.I know that you are tiredFull of worry, love, and fearBut only when I'm with youDo my worries disappear.So, let's lie here togetherLet's take it day by dayJust press my heart against your ownAnd let it show the way.Mama, please don't fear these daysFor they will pass us by.We're both brand-new,We haven't done this before.Neither you, nor I.What IfWhat if in the beginningWe told mothers it was okay?To surrender, give in, hold on, as longAs the night turned into day.And what if from the startWe supported how a mother feeds?If she could, or couldn't, or simply choseTo remember her own needs.And what if we said "it's normal"To not always feel so together?Let's change "just you wait and see"To "it won't be like this forever."And instead of holding the babyWhat if we held the mother?And walked together on this journeyOne foot after the other.And what if we encouraged herTo do whatever felt right?To soften into her knowingIn the harder parts of night.And what if we spoke of all the shadesThe sunsets and the blues?That her path is hers, and how beautiful it isTo find something you didn't lose.And instead of holding the babyWhat if we held the mother?Jessica Urlichs, They Bloom Because of YouA Mother's LoveYou must have known I loved you,Before you came to be.By some divine miracleYou found your way to me.You must have felt my love for youBefore you could even feel.You must have heard my call for youBefore you were even real.And now we lie togetherA new familiar gaze.I promise that I'll neverBe the first to look away.I've loved you for the longest timeMuch longer than it seems.Before we even metBecause I loved you in my dreams.Coffee Is Not EnoughHere's to the mums who feed to sleepHave forgotten to eatPick things up with their feet.Here's to the mums who have a quick shave,Just of their anklesNo time in the day.Here's to the mums who quickly walk byTheir furry first babyWhose tail wags to say hi.Here's to the mums who think they've done nothingBeing someone's constantIs more than just something.Brain is scattered, mismatched like socksOn your worst dayYou are still someone's rock.And here's to the mums who feel they may breakWith each little startleAnd every night wake.Tired and tangled, this is no easy featBut just a reminder:Please have something to eat.On your worst dayYou are still someone's rock.Jessica Urlichs, They Bloom Because of YouA Mother's First StepsNone of regulating their big emotions whiletrying to regulate your own is easy.No one can tell you how to do this,no one knows your children like you do,even on the days you feel like you don't.This isn't a dress rehearsal, there is no main act,no true measurable goals,only the moment before you.You can't hold on to everything you did or didn't do,there are no receipts or score cards, no winningor losing, just being, and feeling, and connecting,and disconnectingand love bursting forthand numbness in between it all,and trying,and trying,and trying again.All I LoveI love that I get to hold youAnd swoop in when you callHold myself out like a blanketBe your landing when you fallI love that I'm your safetyThat it's my hand you holdI love how it is my embraceThat weaves your pain to goldI love that on the longest nightsAs you drift off to my smellMy heavy head tomorrowIs the only thing I'll dwellI love that I'm that placeFor your worries and your fearsMy heartbeat in a shellLike an ocean to your earsI love that in the morningEven in the early riseMy face over the cribIs the light behind your eyesI love these slow and gentle daysHow they blend with one anotherAlways the mother of a babyAnd the baby of a motherBut I hurt for all I loveFor the mothers who want nothing moreThan to go back to the hard beginningsThat seemed so hard beforeMy heart is torn for all I loveAnd so, I hold you closeFor those with aching heartsWho know a mother's love the most.Our ChairI know we are here a lot, Mama,together in this chairbut right now I don't want to beanywhere but here.It's warm, and it's familiar,yet every moment is newlittle building blocksof the safety that is you.I won't recall these memoriesthese nights of you and me,how when I cry out again, and againit's your beautiful face I see.But your soothing will be my song,your skin will be my homeThis belonging will always live in my hearteven when I'm alone.Your voice shines through the darknessas you lift me to your embrace,my little hands search for you,as you wipe tears from my face.One day our nights won't look like this,one day you'll set me downI'll never sleep on you again,with no chair to be found.The chair will become your arms,or the comfort of your smileThe chair will become your voice on the phonethat I've missed hearing for a while.So for now, Mama, please hold me closeback and forth together,I may not remember our chairbut I'll carry these moments forever.MotherYou're not just a personYou're a place.You are someone's home.I See You Now, My FriendI wish I could say "I see you"As I think back to beforeHow I watched you become a motherBut it wasn't you I sawYou shared your announcement photoYour baby, all brand-new"Welcome to this world," it readAnd it should have been for youI wish I'd held you before the babyAnd listened between the linesMaybe I would have asked againWhen you told me you were fineI wish I'd seen more than the smilesAnd realized your tears had driedAnd known your sun had become the oneThat set in your baby's eyesAnd when you said you were tiredI wish I knew what you meantI nodded, imagining the longest nightsBut your body felt broken and bentI wish I had known that consuming loveAnd truly celebrated your winsThe privilege of being invited overAs you let the outside inI wish I had seen the immense changeAnd not just of your viewThat even though you were so in loveAt times you felt lonely tooThat as magnificent as you seemedYou had your doubts and fearsThat a piece of you now lived on your sleeveAnd your moods were mapped by theirsI wish I had listened more closelyThe first smiles, first rolls, and feedingAnd just how big these achievements wereHow you told me these days were fleetingAnd when you left the house those times
Copyright © 2026 by Jessica Urlichs. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
