Among the weightiest of expectations are the notions that motherhood comes naturally to every woman; that being responsible for another little human being should evoke only joy, not mystery and terror; that breastfeeding always happens smoothly; that patience is inexhaustible, no matter how fussy the baby and sleep-deprived the mother; and that moms automatically feel unconditional love no matter how arduous the early going is. Motherhood, we remind each other, is next to divinity. That couches within it the expectation that moms can be like God.
