Being the Default Parent Took a Serious Toll on My Health

Even though we acknowledge that motherhood is challenging, nobody ever mentions that the stress and relentlessness of it all can be physically harmful.

My hair was falling out. Every morning as the sunlight slowly poked through the windows, I’d watched as clumps fell to the bathroom floor while I finger-combed my thinning tresses to assess the damage. It was a slow loss that eventually gave way to bare patches on my scalp.