Every Voice Counts: How your story becomes our story

How do you start telling your story - the story of your motherhood and entry into the secret society open only to women?  The one whose lineage goes back thousands of generations and will continue for countless more because you’ve taken your place in the line-up.  

Here at Every Mother Counts, we think your story is an important part of our advocacy campaign. By telling our own unique stories, we share similarities with mothers and families all over the world.  By coming together and exploring the universality that is childbirth, we hope to strengthen what we call the “sisterhood of motherhood” – a force that can truly bring about critical changes for mothers, girls, women and families all over the world. 

Maybe your relationship with motherhood is something that will happen down the line or something you’ve decided not to experience first hand.  Maybe your piece of the story is as a supporting character, an aunt or friend, doing your part to make other mothers’ lives easier.  Maybe you’re a foster mother or maybe, you’re a father, brother or uncle who wants to insure that the women responsible for bringing life into the world are as well supported as possible.  Membership to the society of motherhood is not exclusive and in fact, is open to anyone who wants to join. It starts with your story.

Maybe you want to tell us about how you discovered you were pregnant or share the details of your birth.  Or maybe, you want to try something completely different.  We know it’s hard to get started so we’ve created a few writing prompts that might inspire some ideas.  We’re also sharing some of our own stories.

Take a peek at our “How to Write a Great Blog” piece and think about the questions below:  

1)    What are the biggest surprises and challenges motherhood has presented you.

2)    Why do the health and living conditions of other mothers matter to you?

3)    How do other mothers support and inspire you?

4)    What’s the one thing or person you can’t imagine doing without at your own birth?  A doula?  Your midwife?  An epidural?  Your husband?  Antibiotics?

5)    If you could create a perfect wish list for mothers around the world, what would you include?

6)    What would you wish for yourself as a mother?

7)    What would you wish for your daughter?

Don’t limit yourself to just these prompts and questions and don’t be afraid to wing it.  Once you’ve created your motherhood manifesto, post it on our Facebook page and be part of the change you want to see in the world.  Once it’s posted, your story will become an important part of our story, the story that’s going to help change the world of motherhood for good. 

Check in regularly as the Every Mother Counts team, our supporters and partners share their own stories.