We fell in love fast, in the way you do when you’re still young enough to believe effort and good intentions will always be enough.

And for a while, they were.

When I got pregnant after years of trying—our little Susie, our miracle baby—life took a sharp left into parenthood. We weren’t prepared, but who ever really is? The diapers, the midnight feedings, the sudden realization that your old life just evaporated and this new one demands your full self, every hour of the day.

At first, it felt natural that I’d take on more of it. Ryan had longer hours at the firm, and I worked from home, typing with one hand while nursing, conducting Zoom meetings with mashed banana drying on my shirt collar. We didn’t talk about it. We just settled into it.

But what