by Marcella Gates posted in Mom Stories

Words have power to boost us up or deflate us. So it's annoying that aspects of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood are described in such negative terms. Here are my least favorites, in no particular order:
1. Stay-at-home-mom (SAHM). This makes me think of being literally stuck at home (lying on the couch, watching TV, and eating bon bons). We know how far this is from the reality of being a mom. But the other options aren't great, either. Full-time mom" (Does that mean moms who work outside the home are "part-time" moms" No, thanks.)

2. Working mom. Aren't all moms working moms" Raising kids is work, even though we don't get paid for it. I've heard variations like "work-outside-the-home mom," but can we come up with something shorter and catchier" Please don't say WOTHM. 3. Contractions. The word itself makes me wince. Contraction. Ouch. No wonder labor seems so scary. Hypnobirthers call contractions "surges," which I think more accurately describes it.
4. Water breaking. You're stressed out about labor and those scary-sounding contractions, and to make things worse, you've just "broken" something. Again, I like the hypnobirthers' term better: water "releasing."
5. Failure to progress. Women who don't progress through labor within a specific time frame often get tagged "FTP" and encouraged to have a c-section. But as author Rita Rubin points out, "fa...