“It broke my heart to leave him. But also coming back to work, it was nice to feel that I’m not just a mom, I’m also a teacher, a mentor and a writing coach.”

Hannah Love: “After giving birth, your world gets flipped upside down. I used to obsess over every minute of my lesson plan. I used to calculate, okay, so they’re going to be doing a journal entry for five minutes and then we’re going to have a discussion for eight minutes and then I’m going to bring us all together and we’re gonna debrief for five minutes, but now none of that happens. I’m only on campus for periods one, two and three, so that way I can be home with my son for the rest of the day. And the biggest takeaway for me has been trying to figure out how I can have a work-life balance. It’s been trying to figure out how I can be the best teacher I can be and also be the best mom I can be. Essentially, teaching has been my whole identity for the majority of my adult life. But suddenly, I had this tiny, tiny little face, who peers up at me and looks like me, and looks like my husband, the love of my life, and I have this crazy need to protect and sustain him.”