Daughter describes all the things her mum never told her about motherhood

We've all grown up listening to different musings from our parents. 

But when it comes to mothers and their daughters, our mums are never far away with strong advice and a jar of home truths. 

However, sometimes they don't tell us the whole truth, they tell us snippets, so we can learn some vital lessons on our own watch. 

And never has this been so clearly evident as it is in Rasha Rushdy's poem on The Tuna Chronicles. 

Mum-of-two, Rasha, has struck a chord with us mums, as she perfectly depicts the truest form of motherhood. 

Her poem goes through all the things her mother had told her about becoming a mum, and how your life will change. 

But Rasha notes that while her mum warned her of certain things, she didn't tell her the extent of how she would feel after giving birth:

"Mama, you told me, that motherhood would be wonderful 

But Mama, you never told me what it would do to me

How it would take the woman that I was;

The woman who thought she knew everything

And could control everything

And break her down and teach her that she had so much to learn.

Mama, you told me there would be sleepless nights.

But Mama, you never told me just how tired I would be;

How sleep would become a luxury, and not something to which I am entitled;

But that there was nothing sweeter than hearing the sound of their steady breath while they slept;

And that even when all I wanted was to close my eyes for five more minutes,

Small, soft, chubby arms around my neck, singing me songs,telling me stories, giggling and squealing,

Would make me forget how badly I needed to sleep."

Our lives drastically change once we become parents; our focus is no longer on us, our worries aren't on our futures, it's on their future.

We continue to strive for perfection throughout our household, but we settle for the almost perfect, because once the kids are happy, 'almost' perfect is now OK with us. 

We momentarily remember the plans we had made before the kids, but we are interrupted by drooling grins and wide smiles that those plans don't matter anymore, you found your calling. 

However, while we're thinking, time is also ticking, and Rasha helps us remember to savour the little things:

"Mama, you told me that it would be a joy to watch them grow up.

But Mama, you never told me how quickly the time would pass; 

How the hours, the days, the weeks and the months would slip through my fingers so fast

That I would suddenly find myself looking at a child instead of a baby;

A baby instead of a newborn; and beg time to be a little bit kinder and wait for me to catch up.

Mama, you told me you loved me.

But Mama, you never told me how that love would run so fiercely through my veins;

How every other kind of love I have ever felt would be nothing like this.

How it would be a love that teaches me to give more than I ever thought I could give,

To somehow want to give even more when I think I have nothing left, 

And to be grateful for the simplest of joys."

The full poem had us welling up on the second verse, and we can't get enough of how accurate Rasha's thoughts are. 

Her description of motherhood truly takes in the raw emotions we feel daily. We probably should have given you a Kleenex warning at the beginning – sorry!