When I was pregnant, I could sense the change. Not my growing belly, though that was plain to see. There was also a palpable shift in my relationships with my closest friends, particularly those who didn't have kids. I could see an invisible wedge slowly take up residence between us, and it only got more apparent after the baby came. There were hug-filled visits, there were beautifully wrapped gifts, there were offers to help and cook and clean, and then, all of a sudden, there were periods of silence that felt truly deafening.
Becoming a mom was one of the greatest things to happen to me, but it certainly wasn't without some casualties. Not surprisingly, long-distance friendships were the first to take a hit — save for the occasional comment on a Facebook post, it was just impossible to keep up. But when I started to see that even my best friends weren't quite the same around me, I realized that there was a lot of misinformation and half-truths about what it's like to be a mom and the friend of one. Here, a few things I hope my childfree besties know about me now.