The exhaustion begins the moment we give birth. We have beat red cheeks, sweat dripping down our foreheads, bleary eyes, and just experienced the most physical pain we’ve ever felt in our lives. And then, this sweet newborn is placed on top of us. Nope, it’s not time to sleep, relax, or massage out those birthing aches. It's time to feed that baby, and do it again every two-hours.

The tired never has a chance to resolve—because as moms we can’t pause to take a breath. So, it evolves into exhaustion.

Exhaustion is…staying up late because you’re thinking about and doing the everything. Then waking up at the crack of dawn because someone is up, and screaming, "MOMMY!"

Exhaustion is…tucking your daughter back into her crib after her 2 am to 3 am poopy diaper wakeup and falling asleep in her crib with her for two hours. Waking up at 5 am with everything hurting because YOU JUST SLEPT IN A CRIB, and going back to your room with a crib-hangover THAT HURTS.

Exhaustion is…not making sense at all. It’s not hearing people because you zoned out. It's having your brain and mouth out of sync, so your words sound much better before they come out. It’s constantly apologizing for your out-of-sorts self.

Exhaustion is…having so many roles to fill, that you don’t get a minute’s break. You can’t ever seem to get ahead of the demands of everyday life. You’re always on the chase and it’s tiring to be running for that long.

Exhaustion is…being over the fighting between siblings and tantrums that are so bad you have to wrestle the toddler back to her senses. It’s being over the constant sounds between the chitter-chatter AND DOES EVERY TOY THESE DAYS MAKE NOISE?

Exhaustion is...making mistakes because of the tired. You forget things, from birthday gifts to entire birthday parties. You look for your sunglasses only to find them on top of your head. You accidentally hit the baby's head, putting her into her car seat.

Exhaustion has become the theme song of adult life, but motherhood is where that theme song plays the loudest.

Because exhaustion is motherhood—

but motherhood is much more than just exhaustion.

And that’s what makes it completely worth every yawn and stretch.

This post originally appeared on the author's Facebook. Her book Living FULL: Winning My Battle with Eating Disorder is available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2O4mJId