Gestational work or servitude conceptualises pregnancy and birth as a form of labour of the same ilk as plowing a field or reading for a postgraduate diploma. This is a grave error when it is embraced uncritically. Perhaps, by contrast, a mother’s journey with new life from conception to birth and beyond is the canvas on which her renewed self is being painted. She is not the worker; She is the work.

There are times when our bodies throw us a curveball and these can be the oddest little anomalies that make a big difference to our journey through motherhood. For me, one of these things has been the discovery that I have a lopsided nipple. Yep. You read that right. But let’s rewind for a minute to catch you up on the story of a breastfeeding mum who - like most of us - knew next to nothing when she started.